Stereotypes In Bike Thief

Humans are complex creatures, they have widely different personalities but, are they naturally good, with evil being taught, or is compassion taught and cruelty natural. Evidence suggests that humans are naturally sympathetic while antagonistic tendencies are taught. While there are some exceptions, almost all humans are born with empathy which is crucial to civilization as we know it. With few exceptions humans are born with empathy, while apathy and cruelty are learnt. In our first WWYD "Bike Thief" it shows that while humans want to do good, culture imbues them with stereotypes that impede decision making. When people were presented with the dire display of a white man stealing a bike, many were concerned but did nothing, finally a older couple took action and stopped it. Many of the people gave the man the benefit of the doubt, because in media white men are not often seen as thieves. When a black man was presented stealing the bike every body took action because in media they are often seen as petty thieves. Humans while …show more content…
In the first test a middle class woman falls people help almost automatically because it looks like some one in distress so empathy kicks in and they help. In the second test a homeless man falls, the impetus for less people helping is their empathy gets an excuse, but many people still do because being homeless is not enough of an excuse for them. When in the third test a homeless man that appears to be drunk falls nobody helps except for one person, this is because him being drunk makes people think he had it coming thus giving them an excuse. When people are given an excuse, like when the homeless looked drunk, less people help but some still