The Bystander Effect and Prairie Dogs

Here is the hypothetical situation:
Suppose you are a prairie dog assigned to guard duty with other prairie dogs from your town. When you see a predator coming you have two choices: sound the alarm or remain silent. If you sound the alarm, you help ensure the safety of the other prairie dogs, but you also encourage the predator to come for you. For you, it is safer to remain silent, but if all guards remain silent, everyone is less safe, including you. What should you do when you see a predator?

 In a situation like this, I would set the alarm. Although I would be putting myself and many others in danger by doing this, it would eventually save our lives. In addition, we would keep one another safe from the predator after setting the alarm. Together, the other prairie dogs and I would be able to warn everyone about the predator rather than just caring about ourselves and putting the rest of the town in danger. If I chose to remain silent, the decision would lead to dangerous consequences that can harm everyone in the town including myself. The bystander effect has always been a problem in every society where people are too afraid to stand up for what is right. To get around the bystander effect, we should stop depending on others to do the right thing and put matters into our own hands. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2019 at 8:44 AM

    I totally agree! I said the same thing about sounding the alarm but I think you make a great point about the dangerous consequences that are more risky if you do not sound the alarm. Very cool!

    ReplyDelete

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