Immediate context is explained best as the circumstances in a particular moment. Those circumstances influence the decisions people make, which may differ from what they would normally do. Leslie Bell, author of “Hard to Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom”, includes in her work how her patients decided to use the context in their situation to make choices based on sexual and relational needs. This relates to an excerpt from Malcom Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point: How Little Things can make a Big Difference, where Gladwell talks of the power of context and the experiments that were recorded in order to make several distinctions between how one says they’ll react and how they actually do under the heat of the moment.
…show more content…
In this experiment conducted by Princeton psychologists John Darley and Daniel Batson, theology students are asked to create a presentation about a biblical theme they are given and then walk to a nearby building to present it. The students that are being closely observed are those who were given the parable of the Good Samaritan from the New Testament; it’s the story of a broken man and those who choose to pass him or help him. Batson and Darley have enlisted the help of a man to play a broken down civilian in an alley in order to recreate the scenario in the bible (Gladwell 160). The experiment is to see how many students will stop and care for the man. The twist in this trial, however, is that some students were told that they’re late for their presentation and others were told that they have some time before they present, but to leave now. This ties into Gladwell’s definition of the Power of Context because the seemingly inconsequential concepts of tardiness and earliness made a substantial difference in how the students reacted to the man, even though most would think that their character would determine the decisions they make. This study showed that 90% of the students that were told they were late “literally stepped over the man” on the way to the building while 63% from the unrushed side aided him in his time of need (Gladwell 161). Why did being told …show more content…
To Bell, she told of how teen pregnancy was common and dropping out from school was frequent (37). To defy the statistics, she focused on her academics and rose above. The context here is her community and how poverty stricken and unappealing she makes it sound to be in the passage. That is what swayed her choice of furthering her education and not ending up like the women in her own community. Alicia’s relationship with men, however, is a darker twist to the idea that the power of context ignites personal choice. Bell reveals on pages 39 and 40 that Alicia’s father was physically abusive and also abused drugs. When Alicia was a child, he molested her. And it is revealed that at age 21, she was raped. This shows a more severe type of context because it was her gender that encouraged these circumstances, as displeasing as it sounds. It made her choose to abstain from men sexually and relationally so she could feel most
In this experiment conducted by Princeton psychologists John Darley and Daniel Batson, theology students are asked to create a presentation about a biblical theme they are given and then walk to a nearby building to present it. The students that are being closely observed are those who were given the parable of the Good Samaritan from the New Testament; it’s the story of a broken man and those who choose to pass him or help him. Batson and Darley have enlisted the help of a man to play a broken down civilian in an alley in order to recreate the scenario in the bible (Gladwell 160). The experiment is to see how many students will stop and care for the man. The twist in this trial, however, is that some students were told that they’re late for their presentation and others were told that they have some time before they present, but to leave now. This ties into Gladwell’s definition of the Power of Context because the seemingly inconsequential concepts of tardiness and earliness made a substantial difference in how the students reacted to the man, even though most would think that their character would determine the decisions they make. This study showed that 90% of the students that were told they were late “literally stepped over the man” on the way to the building while 63% from the unrushed side aided him in his time of need (Gladwell 161). Why did being told …show more content…
To Bell, she told of how teen pregnancy was common and dropping out from school was frequent (37). To defy the statistics, she focused on her academics and rose above. The context here is her community and how poverty stricken and unappealing she makes it sound to be in the passage. That is what swayed her choice of furthering her education and not ending up like the women in her own community. Alicia’s relationship with men, however, is a darker twist to the idea that the power of context ignites personal choice. Bell reveals on pages 39 and 40 that Alicia’s father was physically abusive and also abused drugs. When Alicia was a child, he molested her. And it is revealed that at age 21, she was raped. This shows a more severe type of context because it was her gender that encouraged these circumstances, as displeasing as it sounds. It made her choose to abstain from men sexually and relationally so she could feel most