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Omar Parbhoo Quotes

Total quotes: 2
“In a classic experiment from the 1970s, seminary students were instructed to go to a specific location. On the way there, they walked past a slouched-over man who was groaning audibly. Although all the students passed the man, they were each given a varying sense of urgency by the researchers before heading to their destination. Among those in no hurry, 63 percent stopped to help the man in need. As the level of haste increased, helpfulness dropped precipitously—of those in the greatest rush, only 10 percent stopped.

There was nothing inherently different about the students who stopped and those who didn’t, but the context—the students’ level of urgency, in this case—was enough to restrain benevolence.”
— Omar Parbhoo, I Think, Therefore I Am—Generous?
Tagged: How To Think, Psychology, Human Psychology, Minds And Wires, Generosity, kindness
“The first of these insights is that when cues are available, people tend to conform to expected behaviors and implicit rules. This is why we’re less likely to order a stiff drink at dinner when the rest of the table ordered water. But donations are often kept private. Fortunately, good design could promote social norms of giving. One way is to present meaningful benchmarks to help people see how their actions measure up against others’. One study used donation boxes at an art gallery to demonstrate the power of norming. When the transparent boxes were seeded mostly with coins, follow-on patrons gave similar small donations. But when large bills lined the box, patrons responded accordingly by raising their own donation amounts. If charities offered people this type of visibility on their peers’ giving, perhaps more of the right cues could reach prospective donors.”
— Omar Parbhoo, I Think, Therefore I Am—Generous?
Tagged: How To Think, Psychology, Philosophy
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