SilasBarta comments on Why Don't People Help Others More? - Less Wrong
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Somebody probably broke their leg next door behind just a curtain, and only 70% of the study subjects would go help? And only 7% would help if another person is in the room and the other person doesn't go? Is anyone else very surprised by how low these numbers are? I would have expected something like 95% and 50%.
I'm surprised too, and I'd like to think I'd check on her in that situation; I've checked up on people with significantly less provocation.
OTOH, how good was the setup? Could the subjects have had a clear view of the actor the whole time, and actually been thinking, "Why is she pretending to be injured? ... weirdo"
Peter Singer's account of the experiment made it clear that all of the action occurred behind a curtain which made it so the subject could not be viewed. Unfortunately since the source is cited to be a book, I can't follow up on this easily.