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Another flaw in this sort of study is that there's an enormous disconnect between what we say we would do, and what we would actually do. I might say "yes, I w
by autarch 16y ago
Another flaw in this sort of study is that there's an enormous disconnect between what we say we would do, and what we would actually do.
I might say "yes, I would push Chip/Tyrone over the rail", because I really do believe that's the best thing to do. But if I were actually faced with that dilemma and had to murder someone, could I do it?
- zacharycohn 16y agoMaybe! It depends on the circumstances... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
- notahacker 16y agoIt doesn't account for the likelihood that my actions fail to save anyone and simply increase the death toll either, which would be a paralysing fear for many people in real life. This particular scenario seems an odd one because I simply can't conceive a situation in which I could ever be confident a falling fat man would stop a moving train. My instinct would surely be to trust everything I'd previously learned about the laws of physics.
- marcinw 16y agoWhy not just ask Chip or Tyrone whether they feel their lives are worth losing to save a hundred others?
- notahacker 16y agoIf someone asked me that I'd push them over the edge!
- smallblacksun 16y agoThere's also the fact that you would be making a complete guess that the man was large enough to stop the trolley in real life, and if he wasn't you would simply be adding another victim. Besides, a man large enough to stop a trolley would be really hard to push.
- Jeema3000 16y agoExactly. There's no way to know if the action of pushing the fat man onto the tracks would actually stop the train. Worst case scenario, you might end up killing one extra person. In the 'switching the track' example, on the other hand, the worst case scenario is that your actions have no effect on the outcome and no additional people die than would have died otherwise.
- Perceval 16y agoThis disconnect between what someone says and does when polled on questions involving race is called the 'Bradley Effect': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect