A good financial situation, the absence of a criminal environment and a relatively low level of aggression do not guarantee that in certain circumstances a person will not behave inappropriately. Because at the heart of such a “shift” lies a deep human property — social conformity. There is a completely understandable phenomenon behind the complex term: being in a group of people, a person tends to act the same way as them, even if such behavior is usually not peculiar to him.
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Experiment in the elevator
A brilliant demonstration of this offensive quality was the elevator experiment conducted in the USA in 1962. The essence of the experience is simple: several people entered the elevator located in the business center and their behavior was filmed with a hidden camera. All the passengers, except one, were fake participants and, entering the elevator, began to behave strangely.
In one version of the experience, “visitors to the center” immediately turned their backs to the open doors, in another, once in the elevator, they took off their hats and then put them on again, in the third they turned exclusively to the left and so on.
Noticing the unusual behavior of the neighbors in the elevator, random passengers at first looked around in surprise, but then, after some hesitation, repeated the incomprehensible action. Someone pretended to take off his hat because he suddenly wanted to do it himself, or did not turn around completely, while others simply copied the actions of decoy ducks. Almost no one could keep their composure and behave as usual.
