Reading Time: 1 Minute While many riders did not do anything, one person stood up to clean the graffiti. His courage inspired others to rise up and help clean it all. This story is about conformity and how to get people out of it.
This would be a great topic for a class discussion about the role of conformity (as shown in the Asch study), where it was shown that conformity drops dramatically when only one person chooses to disagree with the group’s decision.
Personality: What personality traits would make someone most likely to take the first step?
The Big Five characteristics:
Openness to Experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
All the passengers looked at each other when they first saw the graffiti.
The train was silent as everyone looked at each other, feeling uncomfortable and unsure of what to do next.
This article can be found here.
Discussion Questions
Would you be the first to start erasing negative comments and swastikas?
What lessons have we learned in class so far that could explain why you might be hesitant about getting up?
What can we do about social forces and to get people to do the right thing?
The video below makes a great point: being the first to act is important, but being second is equally important. The majority of the crowd will feel more empowered to take the same action once two people have done it.
Original Story: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/nyregion/swastika-nyc-subways.html
