On the way home from university today, Karyn and I saw a car pulled over on the side of the motorway with its hazard lights flashing. Since the traffic was fairly slow, I asked Karyn if we should stop and help. After some discussion, we decided that, for many reasons, we shouldn't, mainly because there was nothing we could have done.
Upon arriving home, I received a phone call from my mum. Her voice was full of distress as she told me that her car had stopped on the side of the road. She explained to me that the car was out of petrol, and she needed me to come rescue her with a spare tank we had sitting at home.
With much thought about the situation, I wondered to myself if this was the law of karma at work. Was it because I didn't stop to help that car on the motorway so my parents' car got stuck on the road?
We had been talking about diffusion of responsibility in our social psych class. When there are many people present, it is less likely for one individual to stop and help someone because everyone thinks that someone else can help. After these lectures, I had decided that in order to do the 'right' thing, I should help people out when there are large populations and no one would stop and help.
Maybe karma doesn't have anything to do with it at all. My mum could have called me any other day and said she had run out of petrol and I wouldn't have thought karma had anything to do with it. Subconsciously I felt guilty about not doing what I morally thought was right to do, which is why I linked my mums car incident with the one we saw on the motorway.
Upon arriving home, I received a phone call from my mum. Her voice was full of distress as she told me that her car had stopped on the side of the road. She explained to me that the car was out of petrol, and she needed me to come rescue her with a spare tank we had sitting at home.
With much thought about the situation, I wondered to myself if this was the law of karma at work. Was it because I didn't stop to help that car on the motorway so my parents' car got stuck on the road?
We had been talking about diffusion of responsibility in our social psych class. When there are many people present, it is less likely for one individual to stop and help someone because everyone thinks that someone else can help. After these lectures, I had decided that in order to do the 'right' thing, I should help people out when there are large populations and no one would stop and help.
Maybe karma doesn't have anything to do with it at all. My mum could have called me any other day and said she had run out of petrol and I wouldn't have thought karma had anything to do with it. Subconsciously I felt guilty about not doing what I morally thought was right to do, which is why I linked my mums car incident with the one we saw on the motorway.
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