Social Influence

Having taken two courses on social psychology, I tend to merely peruse the text (Exploring Social Psychology, 5th ed. by David G. Myers) for the class in which I am currently enrolled. By doing so, I am usually reminded of the basics of various concepts like the low-ball and foot-in-the-door techniques, methods of persuasion, and social conformity. This week, however, I came across one quote in the chapter titled, "How Nice People get Corrupted." The book quotes one of television's more memorable personalities:

"Good people sometimes do bad things."

--Mr. Rogers.

Being Mr. Rogers, of course we know he was right. We are all sometimes led astray. It might be something simple like hastily rushing through a yellow light when we know we should stop. It could take the more serious form of cheating for a test or plagiarizing for a paper. Of course, the bad act could be much worse than even that.

Regardless of the bad acts we're aware of committing, there are many that never register with us at all. When we walk by a homeless person and, despite a belly full of food and a pocketful of change, offer nothing -- we're doing a bad thing. When someone drops something on the bus and we choose not to say anything -- we're doing a bad thing. If we wait to act because we assume someone else will, we're ignoring our social responsibilities. Because as we're sitting around assuming someone else will take care of it, everyone else is sitting around and thinking the same thing.