How Situations Affect Our Behavior

How Situations Affect Our Behavior
Lauren Slater’s book Opening Skinner’s Box chapters “Obscura” and “In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing” challenge general perceptions about how we believe people will behave in certain situations. Reflect on our readings in book and articles, along with class discussions, as you develop your research.

Below are questions to help guide you; however, do not let them limit you in your research and arguments.
1. Do you think people tend to get involved and do something when they notice a problem or if someone does not seem OK? Do you think it is hard for people to say no to those in authority, even when people think it is against their conscience? Explain your reasoning with evidence from personal experiences, history/current events and/or Opening Skinner’s Box readings.
2. Do you agree with the theory put forth by professors John Darley and Bibb Latene? Explain your answer with evidence from your readings and research.
3. Describe some of the experiments and incidents in “In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing” and make connections to outside readings or experiences.
4. Slater makes mention of Milgram from the earlier chapter “Obscura.” What kinds of connections do you see, if any, between the Milgram and Darley/Latene experiments? You could also make connections with Zimbardo’s experiment. Explain your answers.
5. Slater describes “the five stages of helper behavior” (109), and finds it could be useful. What do you think about this? Do you think this should be taught more in school and society? You could research “Good Samaritan law” and “duty to rescue” to find out how different countries legally treat this situation.