In general, then, your best strategy when in need of emergency help
is to reduce the uncertainties of those around you concerning your
condition and their responsibilities. Be as precise as possible about your
need for aid. Do not allow bystanders to come to their own conclusions
because, especially in a crowd, the principle of social proof and the
consequent pluralistic ignorance effect might well cause them to view
your situation as a nonemergency.
And request assistance of a single individual from the group of on-
lookers. Fight the natural tendency to make a general request for help.
Pick out one person and assign the task to that individual. Otherwise,
it is too easy for everyone in the crowd to assume that someone else
should help, will help, or has helped. Of all the techniques in this book
designed to produce compliance with a request, this one may be the
most important to remember. After all, the failure of your request for
emergency aid could have severe personal consequences.
Not long ago, I received some firsthand evidence on this point. I was
involved in a rather serious automobile collision. Both I and the other
driver were plainly hurt: He was slumped, unconscious, over his
steering wheel while I managed to stagger, bloody, from behind mine.
The accident had occurred in the center of an intersection in full view
of several individuals stopped in their cars at the traffic light. As I knelt
in the road beside my door, trying to clear my head, the light changed
and the waiting cars began to roll slowly through the intersection; their
drivers gawked but did not stop.
I remember thinking, “Oh no, it’s happening just like the research
says. They’re all passing by!” I consider it fortunate that, as a social
psychologist, I knew enough about the bystander studies to have that
particular thought. By thinking of my predicament in terms of the re-
search findings, I knew exactly what to do. Pulling myself up so I could
be seen clearly, I pointed at the driver of one car: “Call the police.” To
a second and a third driver, pointing directly each time: “Pull over, we
need help.” The responses of these people were instantaneous. They
summoned a police car and ambulance immediately, they used their
handkerchiefs to blot the blood from my face, they put a jacket under
my head, they volunteered to serve as witnesses to the accident; one
even offered to ride with me to the hospital.
Not only was this help rapid and solicitous, it was infectious. After
drivers entering the intersection from the other direction saw cars
stopping for me, they stopped and began tending to the other victim.
The principle of social proof was working for us now. The trick had
been to get the ball rolling in the direction of aid. Once that was accom-
plished, I was able to relax and let the bystanders’ genuine concern and
social proof’s natural momentum do the rest.
106 / Influence