Added: 4 years ago
From: markmcdermott
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  • 20 minutes?! Crap, they all would've been toasted by then if it was real.

  • This is why many people believe in a religion. Because they are surrounded by a culture that dictates it is the normal thing to do. They refuse to rely on logic and instead conform to the brainwashing tradition that is organized religion.

  • This has everything to do with Joe Paterno. When there are others are around, it is the human condition to defuse responsibility.

  • and her name is Bean, Ms Bean. Unwilling to EVER just say, "hey, wait a minute! That's not normal!"

  • lol thats crazy how being in a group of ppl effects how you react to different things lol just learned bout this in ms.P's class today

  • wooooow!!! goes to show how people are just followers... at least ask a question like : "does anyone else notice this smoke?"

  • how about doing the opposite, e.g. getting everything to say the room is full of smoke (when it is not) and see how they react?

  • Note that the room does not fill with smoke. The smoke comes in from under the door but at no point does it fill the room.

    Perhaps this experiment is aimed at us, the viewers, to test our inability to judge for ourselves. 'The Smoke Filled Room Study' the title prepares us for is anything but.

  • If people wanted to act like nothing was wrong, I more than likely would have left them to deal with their own fate.

  • Well gotta agree, this a lame attempt to examine the bystander effect.

  • I find these kind of experiments reductionist. What these kind of experiments don't take account of is the fact that during the setting up and introduction of the 'bystander' to the situation some deception has taken place, so the situation itself is not altogether normal, not natural because of this,hence the smile on the face, is this candid camera ?, is this for real ?These complexities are very important, and always missed as it reflects on the experiments inaptitude not the 'bystanders'.

  • @EilidhBradley You can see the bystander effect played out for real. Pick up a paper or watch a news channel. Some of the vids on here may be with the participants being "in on it", but clearly many are not - the fact that it is deception is irrelevant as the bystanders don't know it's deception until later

  • @TheRushingWind I do both those things (go figure) regularly and do not see the bystander effect, infact I read the opposite. The point is the fact that it is a deception is relevant. Thats the point. Your desire to gain personal gratification out of the result being a redundant/negative response from the bystander is also subject to an infamous experiment , If and when I find it I'l post it. Wake up.

  • @EilidhBradley

    Deception is integral in theses scenarios for tighter control.

  • @nojake everyone in the room besides the female they were focused on was an actor. It is clear by her reaction and inability to coutine working on the form that she understood that there unsual smoke was coming from the door and that it is not normal. It was the fact that she would look around and see everyone else acting normal that she decided to conform. This was an accurate experiment,

  • It's fairly easy to discern false from real smoke. Thus, it's quite possible that these subjects knew it was false and assumed it was a practical joke or study of some sort and didn't react because of that.

  • @NoJake there are many other studies with more extreme situations you can look into. The bystander effect can undoubtedly occur. Look up the case of Kitty Genovese for a real life example.

  • I think I would either react right away, or not react at all... if it had been 10 mins or so, I would be like 'Oh, well, something would have happened by now, and it'd be awkward to bring up the smoke after not saying anything for so long...'

  • I loved the face of the woman who stayed when she first saw the smoke it was like a "well shit will ya look at that"{

  • to all you chauvanists, there is a main effect of gender in this study, actually showing that women are more likely to leave or get help more quickly than men.

    or maybe it's because they realize they should be in the kitchen

  • @MickBReedy I like your style. Bit of a twoface.

  • Real smoke looks and smells differently than stage fog. I wonder how the results would have changed with real smoke.

  • I think she was just TOO smart and knew that the smoke was actually water vapor from a smoke machine xD

  • @PsychoSpammer That sucks but self-defense is considered ok and acceptable in our society.  (See the whole second amendment debate) I think if your honest with yourself you will find that you really do conform in many, many ways, just like everyone.

  • the concept of "historicity" by Heidegger, if I wanted to learn more. 

  • @PsychoSpammer I don't know what to tell, but I think your missing the point of these videos mainly. While I agree moral responsibility matters, to think "I am" above conformity is think is wrong. We are a product of current time and place, even Galileo. Galileo might have not conformed in the scientific respect but I am sure he conformed in many other respects. He likely still dressed similar to his contemporaries and had many other cultural norms that he followed. I would read about the

  • @PsychoSpammer Yeah, but even really smart people like Heidegger who became a Nazi, and Sartre was Marxist, so conformity does always deal with intelligence. None of us really stand alone in this world.

  • @PsychoSpammer clear which one is better than the other? I don't think baggy clothes even look good, but I don't wear tight jeans. Even if I did I might hang out with other tight jean wearers. No one really stands alone in this world, we all conform in many ways, because we are just a part of this world, and we in a sense don't even notice how often we just conform.

  • @PsychoSpammer Yeah it is true that is the "herd mentality," lots of existential philosophers have written on this, like Nietzche. I think though there is a danger in saying, I am not the one who conforms, it is the others over there who conform, it is just those southerners lynching blacks or something. That is an example in conformity, but take something like baggy clothes and tight clothes. Men used to wear tight jeans, but now the style is baggy jeans. Why? Are the styles really

  • @PsychoSpammer I wouldn't use the word stupid though, it doesn't have anything to do with IQ. It has to with wanting to like we belong. Smart and stupid people alike all want to belong.

  • that is sooo stupid why would the woman sit in a room with smoke coming in it for 20 minutes and not say anything. Silly woman.

  • did you see her trying to hide her smiles, though? cmon =/ either she thought "this has to be some kind of experiment" or "this is one of those corny practical joke tv shows like Candid Camera" =P she looked not the least bit worried even before turning to the others for their reactions to the smoke.

  • You would be surprised to know that many people conform to society every single day. I bet most of you who are calling this woman stupid and unreasonable would be conformists as well if you were unknowingly put into this situation.

  • @PuraVid4 Yeah, even calling her stupid, is in a sense conformity. Youtube has a certain tone to it, and that is just to insult people all the time. Why do people insult others all the time all the time on youtube, because everyone else does. We ALL constantly conform. We do people drive in BMW's and hummers all the time, because they want to be perceived in a good light by our group, American society. She is not stupid, she is human and wants to be perceived well by the group.

  • Unbelievable! This woman will put herself and others in danger by not reacting to the smoking room just in order to conform? What if it were a fire and she was the only one who noticed it? Hard to understand this effect.

  • I mean C'mon after a minute of evaluating the situation i'd atleast tap the person next to me to get their input on the situation, whats the point in havin a mouth if you're not going to use it (pause).

  • I didnt really get it. I mean if i was her and noones moving ide just be like"im gettn pranked you guys are jerks wheres the cameras man!!"

  • I think YouTube is just another experiment that shows how people will make fools of themselves when they think they're anonymous.

  • @Samo762 So true. People act like asses when they think they are anonymous.

  • Lol I love the way the second person was just like "Fuck it I must be seeing things"

  • bottomline : human beings suck

  • it's like 1one1republic said, this is testing if she will interpret it as an emergency if none of the confederates are acting alarmed by the smoke. also, everyone should learn the correct usage of "your" and "you're" to prevent looking like a wanker

  • @PsychoSpammer so we know your an ass.

  • @PsychoSpammer.. suckee..watch?v=fuEl60UCJiE..s­uckee

  • @PsychoSpammer well the only reason i labelled it normal was to point out that the woman in this case reacted no differently than most people would...

    off course one may consider it a stupid thing to do and also unacceptable, but nonetheless it is what most people do which is why i called it a normal behaviour

  • @PsychoSpammer this is a typical controlled psychological experiment for confirming the bystander effect theory and researchers have carried out many such experiments which have shown the theory to be true

    also, i said normal stupid because under the circumstances this is a normal human behaviour and you could expect most people to react the same way,you seem to underestimate the effect and control certain situations have on our behaviour

  • @PsychoSpammer as i said it's not the inability to understand the situation but rather the effect of the other person that forces the woman to act the way she did, you could call it stupid- but then you would have to call it normal stupid as most people have been shown to react exactly the same way

  • @1one1republic Yeah exactly. "Stupid" is not the right word, because it does not have anything to do with intelligence or IQ but it has to with wanting to belong. We all want to be liked and get positive feedback from others, it is conformity not intelligence

  • I'm sorry, but this video is disturbing to me because we shouldn't assume that EVERYONE would react the same way this woman did. Should we agree with her behaviour simply because we would do the exact same thing if we were in her shoes?

    I think this experiment is also amazing, in that it is a lesson to us all. We should learn that being uncomfortable by DOING SOMETHING does not make us less of a person.

  • Has anyone pointed out that the second lady was right to think nothing was wrong? She took her cues from those around her, and those around her KNEW there was nothing wrong and communicated that via their steadfast lack of concern.

  • @JohnniesMcClane you are full of yourself if you think the second woman did the right thing. if she knew nothing was wrong, she wouldnt have been constantly looking at the smoke for the 20 mins. but since she probably doesnt have a backbone/brain of her own, she was waiting for someone else to make a decision for herself, and since no one else did anything for her, she didnt do anything.

  • Damn, I wish this hadn't been posted on YouTube. Now people have the wrong idea. The point is, almost ANYONE (yes, you too troll) would act the same way that the woman did. It has nothing to do with her intelligence. As others have said, she behaved the way she did because none of the other people in the room were concerned. But with the first woman, she only did anything because she knew that she was the only one there to tell anyone about it and therefore felt personal responsibility.

  • @GBEHNCP Exactly.

  • I did an experiment where i smoked in a room and then went outside for a stroll . All the others stayed inside the room . Does this prove anything , or , did I just fancy stretching my legs ??

  • what are the strenghts and weaknessses of this experiment

  • I see people are having a misconception that the woman who stayed in the room must be stupid. That might not be the case. The point of the experiment is to show how certain situations can effect or control one's behaviour. The reason she did not react was because other people in the room acted like nothing was happening and not because she failed to understand the situation.

  • @1one1republic

    Unless the smoke used was clearly not related to a fire, which i doubt she could have easily established, then yes, not even saying a word ("I think there might be a fire") IS incredibly stupid. This doesn't invalidate the effect. On the contrary, it shows how important it is to use rational thinking to override such more primal mental functions. Failure to do so when given sufficient time (20 Minutes!) i will glady call stupid, even if it makes me stupid as well.

  • To elaborate, if noone ever acted alarmed, because the rest of the group does not, we would be extinct by now. There needs to be at least one whistleblower. Whether or not you are ready and willing to do so is not only a function of instinct but also a matter of upbringing and attitude. Thought experiment: This test with a professional firefighter.

  • @Fnordicus A professional firefighter would quickly recognize the fact that that was fog machine smoke and not real fire smoke and it would quickly blow the experiment.

  • @Fnordicus Yeah, in the "asch conformity experiment," if they have one person who agrees with them they are far less likely to conform.

  • @Fnordicus you should learn more about human psychology and you will see that under certain circumstances people will do the most stupid things, it's easy to look in hindsight and say that i would never do that, but the truth still remains that we are all equally vulnerable to acting stupidly under similar circumstances

  • @1one1republic

    > most stupid things

    > all equally vulnerable to acting stupidly

    Thanks.

  • @1one1republic Yeah, exactly. This is how things like Nazi Germany happen, people know something is not right, but no one says anything.

  • @Fnordicus

    I do agree that there is a degree of stupidity here not even mentioning it to anyone, like "Hey, anyone else notice that smoke?" I also think this singular experiment doesn't necessarily validate the thesis, BUT I would be willing to bet you would see strikingly similar results in a more expansive study.

    People act less rational in a group environment because they accept the possibility (or likelihood?) that other people might know better than them, or will take responsibility.

  • @passerby26 Check out the "asch conformity experiment," it also empirically validates it.

  • @1one1republic its the bystander effect. She assumed that everyone else knew about the smoke and decided that if they weren't in a panic, why should she be?

  • @1one1republic Yeah, exactly. It is not a smart of stupid thing. It deals with conformity, and how we as people are constantly taking our cues from the people around us. It is sort of similar to the "asch experiment" and the concept in "1984" where 2 + 2= 5. Reality exists but our perception of reality is greatly influenced by what others tell us reality is.

  • @1one1republic Couldn't agree more, man, it is not about IQ but conformity.

  • @1one1republic no, she's a fucking idiot

  • @Razhell Lol spoken like a true idiot

  • @Razhell Lol spoken like a true idiot

  • OMFG!!!!!!!!! She just sat their for a good minute without saying anything, some people are just stupid.

  • Where slaves to ourselves really

  • @Tuphut exactly : /

  • Should of tried a black participant, I done know the results would of been different!!!!

  • The others are actors. If they weren't they'd look around like her and their eyes would meet, questions would be asked and investigations done and conclusions would be drawn.

  • no duh, that's the point, it's the study of only one person... and the results were ridiculous

  • ...scratching her head in a vane attempt to understand the situation, heres an idea use your vocal chords to question the other people about that grey stuff coming from the door

  • I wonder what effect gender of the subject (the non-confederate) has on the outcome. Would be interesting to see.

  • Oh my gosh! That's crazy to just sit there! I would be like hey somehting's on fire! LOL!

  • @PaperMoon2010

    EXACTLY. It's crazy to just sit there and know that Hussein was not behind 9/11 or that we are causing the planet to warm up.

    Just sit there? Why, of COURSE!

  • what would be great is if all humans died

  • Lead the way.

  • @MrExnihilo no, wouldn't be fair.

  • @CDanielzSpecialist

    LOL!!

    Well played.

  • She was showing pluralistic ignorance. If none of the bystanders are concerned then she assumes that she should not be concerned as well, even at the risk of danger.

  • It's a loci of control issue.

  • hmmm, spontaneous human combustion. She was just waiting for it to happen.

  • our teacher showed us this in our first spychology lesson today and i was shocked that the second person waited 20 minutes... if i saw something dangerous id alert the teacher or whoever was there straight away... after 20 mins shed be dead

  • she should've walked over and blown a superhuman cold wind like superman towards the smoke. but i guess she likes smoke

  • ridiculous

    just did bout it in psychology

  • did the others know that it was an experiment?

  • um..yeah..

  • Ya they would know about it. They were confederates. Confederates is the name used dor people who are in on the experiment. Subjects are the ones the experiment is focused on. I didnt stay long in Psych class. Just long enough to pick up on that. :)

  • yes

  • this is not a big deal 5 % of people shepards and take action and not watch and wait for other sheeps , its normal, cuz u cant have 100% of poppulation be great!! or be shepards or be genuis some one has to be stupid some one idiot, some one a jerk :D and so on

  • this is pluralistic ignorance. you should put that in the description

  • hm.. i don't think it is because she doesn't have a false impression of how the others are feeling and reacting, they genuinly aren't worried.

    However, she IS worried, she looks at the threat and and her peers' reactions, then adjusts her own behaviour to fit in with the group behaviour = confomity

  • External locus of control.

  • i'll just wait to potentially burn alive.... no biggie. dipshit.

  • im not like them at all, i speak my mind!

  • Ha I saw this in psyc class, I'd be like 'see ya dip shits. i'm gettin the hell outta here.'

  • she's hot

  • Herd mentality, the others weren't reacting to the possibility of danger the smoke might have presented so though the girl was nervous she didn't respond because the others didn't.

  • Lol if they were doing a psych questionnaire at the time, they'd just assume it was part of the test. I swear, you could set the whole room on fire and they'd be like "Yeah right...". You expect to be messed with in psych situations. My whole degree course we were like that - majorly cycnical.

  • this is the way democracy works lol

  • fatal error in experiment. The woman tested is a smoke loving goth.

  • lolzors gd one

  • @42kang A smoke loving goth with dandruff.

  • @42kang A smoke loving goth with dandruff.

  • @42kang Humans are strange creatures. Some kids could be burning to death or dying of smoke inhalation.

  • @42kang The error is that it's water vapor. If they wanted this experiment to be accurate they'd have used real smoke.

  • @amidoingthis How would that have any effect? they are testing peoples reaction to some novel stimulus, and are you suggesting making people suffocate? The accuracy has nothing to do with what it is.

  • @clifnore yes they shuld use real smke

  • @amidoingthis Thats not what I asked, I asked how real smoke would effect the out come of the test.

  • @clifnore obviously she would be forced to leave or else die, they all would, its the perfect experiment, especially if you can get ppl who want to suffocate to death from smoke, cuz they would stay and then the one who isn't in on the experiment would be forced into choosing for real.

  • Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology

    Bystander effect - Author: Gale Reference Team - Source: Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001.

    Published: 2001/01/01 The term bystander effect, or bystander apathy, was first employed by psychologists in the early 1960s.

    Psychologists describe this as pluralistic ignorance , in which the behavior of the group causes each individual to be lulled into inaction.Psychologists call this reaction diffusion of responsibility.

  • "5 minutes later" and its just a still shot of charred remains...

  • 'Diffusion-of-responsibility' Is this perhaps why most of my co-workers can freely walk past a situation that needs addressing, without doing anything about it? Maybe then, we would be better off with fewer workers so as to concentrate the responsibility. Hmmm.

  • Crazy thing, isn't it? The bystander effect. What has this poor world come to when we can't take a second out of our time to help someone in need.

  • it's within our nature to look at other's reactions (social cues about emergency) before acting--- what's odd is that she didn't talk to the people around her!

  • i completely agree. if i had been in that room and no one else seemed to care that there was smoke i wouldn't have gotten up to check it out or left the room either. like this video and the elevator psychology prank video show, it is in our nature to assume that the majority of the "pack" is in the right about an issue.

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