could summon aid, you lost your speech or mobility or consciousness,
your chances for assistance and for recovery would plunge drastically.
It would be essential to try to request help quickly. But what would the
most effective form of that request be? Moans, groans, or outcries
probably would not do. They might bring you some attention, but they
would not provide enough information to assure passersby that a true
emergency existed.
If mere outcries are unlikely to produce help from the passing crowd,
perhaps you should be more specific. Indeed, you need to do more than
try to gain attention; you should call out clearly your need for assistance.
You must not allow bystanders to define your situation as a nonemer-
gency. Use the word “Help” to cry out your need for emergency aid.
And don’t worry about being wrong. Embarrassment is a villain to be
crushed here. In the context of a possible stroke, you cannot afford to
be worried about the awkwardness of overestimating your problem.
The difference in cost is that between a moment of embarrassment and
possible death or lifelong paralysis.
But even a resounding call for help is not your most effective tactic.
Although it may reduce bystanders’ doubts about whether a real
emergency exists, it will not remove several other important uncertain-
ties within each onlooker’s mind: What kind of aid is required here?
Should I be the one to provide the aid, or should someone more qualified
do it? Has someone else already gone to get professional help, or is it
my responsibility? While the bystanders stand gawking at you and
grappling with these questions, time vital to your survival could be
slipping away.
Clearly, then, as a victim you must do more than alert bystanders to
your need for emergency assistance; you must also remove their uncer-
tainties about how that assistance should be provided and who should
provide it. But what would be the most efficient and reliable way to do
so?
Based on the research findings we have seen, my advice would be to
isolate one individual from the crowd: Stare, speak, and point directly
at that person and no one else: “You, sir, in the blue jacket, I need help.
Call an ambulance.” With that one utterance you should dispel all the
uncertainties that might prevent or delay help. With that one statement
you will have put the man in the blue jacket in the role of “rescuer.”
He should now understand that emergency aid is needed; he should
understand that he, not someone else, is responsible for providing the
aid; and, finally, he should understand exactly how to provide it. All
the scientific evidence indicates that the result should be quick, effective
assistance.
Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D / 105