Because deep thinking is good for the mind!

[kaaatie]

I have a hypothetical question related to a conversation that I've been having...

Let's presume that there's a group of prisoners (let's say 10 of them). An executioner puts them all in a position where each individual has a 50% chance of surviving (and a 50% chance of dying). There's no chance of escape, and no chance of rescue. However, if one of the prisoners volunteers to take the 50% chance of dying, then the other prisoners are all guaranteed to survive. The question is: do you think one of them would volunteer? Do you think the size of the group would influence the outcome?

Now, a different example.

A group of people are working in an office, and someone comes in and offers them all a chance to be given a new car (a corvette). Each individual has a 50% chance of getting a new car. However, if one person agrees to take the 50% chance at the car, then everyone else is guaranteed to get a new car. Do you think someone would volunteer? Do you think people would be more or less likely to volunteer in this example versus the other example?

I think this seems like the perfect opportunity for a poll:

[Poll #1194893]

Comments

[paradise-city.livejournal.com]

To follow up on what cesperanza said, there's also the idea of diffusion of responsibility, in that people are more likely to take action when fewer people are involved because there are fewer people who could potentially be held responsible. It's one of the reasons you're more likely to get help if you're stranded on the side of the road in a backwoods town than you are in the middle of the city. I don't think there's any hard evidence on how that interacts with altruism, but these were really interesting questions.

[kaaatie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that the diffusion of responsibility would reduce the chance of people volunteering with a large group. However, there's also the argument that an individual might see more reason to volunteer in a large group (as there are more lives at risk).

It's definitely an interesting area of study.