Summary Of In Groups We Shrink

Author Carol Tavris illustrated in an article, In Groups We Shrink, how people in society are lazy when assisting a person. She states that people in groups tend to be lazy due to multiple people being present in the setting. This she calls a “diffusion of responsibility” when one feels less or no responsibility to come to aid because they feel that someone is going to help. This carelessness is seen mainly in groups shown throughout the article, the neglect is what we should acknowledge in this article. She wrote, “the more observers there are, the less likely any one person is to call for help.” The meaning of “diffusion of responsibility,” as she says, is when people are in a group and ponder that somebody is going to help, about the current
The lottery shows this physiological phenomenon through a lottery. The setting starts in a sunny and joyful tone, this later is shown to be ironic due to the horrific event that unfolds once the lottery happens. Blinded by tradition and no one willing to stand up and challenge this tradition, someone has to pay the ultimate price. The author doesn't, however, state to the reader the purpose of this tradition but that it has happened for years. In the beginning, we see kids picking up rocks, for the stoning of the person who got a paper with a mark on it. This indicated an ironic win of a lottery, which in this case was death. This “diffusion of responsibility” between people makes the group feel not guilty since everyone is participating in it. Throughout the article, it shows examples of “diffusion of responsibility”. One of the examples she uses is, “In Albuquerque, N.M., 30 people watched for an hour and a half as a building burned to the ground before they realized that no one had called the fire department” (Tavris 2). The event demonstrates the need to assist and not ponder with a group, with 30 people having the choice to help or watch the fire consume the