What would you do? Three different bike thieves and people's reaction to them - General

[video=youtube;S0kV_b3IK9M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0kV_b3IK9M[/video] They helped her steal a bike knowing full well it isn't hers. What the hell?

The white guy looks a lot more like a grounds keeper or something they way he's dressed, still an interesting experiment.

I love thought experiments.

I love this show.

Hahaha now I can go around stealing bikes and just get my friends to interview them and tell them it was an experiment :v:

This show is really interesting to watch, but they need to change some of the actors they use. There's nothing wrong with their acting, It's just that people who watch the show regularly will recognize them and figure out that it's part of the show.

What if it's a fat and/or black chick?

Makes you wonder if you'd do the same.

although the chick has learned a valuable lesson: All of the bikes are hers. All of them.

We're all secretly racist.

It's like someone walks up to one of the actors while stealing the bike and asks, "Hey, aren't you that actor for that hidden camera TV show? Nice to meet you! *Extends their arm for a handshake*" and then they walk away casually.

[QUOTE=shatteredwindow;31101644]What if it's a fat and/or black chick?[/QUOTE] I'm wondering the same thing.

Woah, that was good to watch, didn't expect every person to question the black kid when they walked past.

This show makes me incredulous. How can people stand by and do nothing while bad things like this go on?

I think it was pretty shifty what they did with the clothes too The white kid wore blue, which is a very soothing and calming colour, baby blue particularly radiates a kind of innocent vibe. While the black actor wore a red shirt, which is a very angry and dominant colour. I think that might have just a little to do with the amount of people approaching them. [editline]14th July 2011[/editline] Same with the girl. They want to do as much as possible to confirm what they already wanted to show you. She is also blue. They wanted people to be helpful and positive towards her, they're doing as much as they can to doctor the outcomes here.

Rusty I think you're reading too much into the shirt colours, almost as if you don't want this to be about race unless you can show me another study that links shirt colours to people's reactions to potential crimes I don't think you can just assume things like blue=calm and red=angry are applicable here

you don't think it's a little interesting how the people they wanted to be ignored/responded to positively BOTH wore blue and the one person they wanted to show peoples racial stereotype for wore a red shirt? the effect those colours have is pretty common knowledge, that HAD to have been on purpose.

[QUOTE=Rusty100;31107389]you don't think it's a little interesting how the people they wanted to be ignored/responded to positively BOTH wore blue and the one person they wanted to show peoples racial stereotype for wore a red shirt? the effect those colours have is pretty common knowledge, that HAD to have been on purpose.[/QUOTE] I think the colour of the skin/sex means a hell of a lot more than the colour of the shirt it's common knowledge that people associate black males with crime and white males and females with not being criminals

red = bad, blue = good a man wearing a blue shirt breaking somehow looks less menacing than one in the red shirt picture the scene with the shirt colours replaced no matter who it is, the guy in the red shirt is more likely to be harassed because RED = BAD AND WRONG STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING and blue = What is happening there hm i don't really care better not get involved

[QUOTE=Rusty100;31107415]red = bad, blue = good a man wearing a blue shirt breaking somehow looks less menacing than one in the red shirt picture the scene with the shirt colours replaced no matter who it is, the guy in the red shirt is more likely to be harassed because RED = BAD AND WRONG STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING and blue = What is happening there hm i don't really care better not get involved[/QUOTE] I'm completely certain that you're wrong here If it was a khaki colour I can see people assuming the person is a park employee but beyond that, it's just the race and sex coming into play here

[QUOTE=Zeke129;31107391]I think the colour of the skin/sex means a hell of a lot more than the colour of the shirt it's common knowledge that people associate black males with crime and white males and females with not being criminals[/QUOTE] Be that as it may I think if the shirt colours were replaced you'd see an increase on the white dude being harassed and a decrease on the black dude I'm sure the stats would still end up the same way for what they wanted to demonstrate but probably not by as much obviously skin colour has a lot more to do with it, but so do the shirts. [editline]14th July 2011[/editline] bright red shirts are just more menacing.

[QUOTE=Rusty100;31107423]Be that as it may I think if the shirt colours were replaced you'd see an increase on the white dude being harassed and a decrease on the black dude I'm sure the stats would still end up the same way for what they wanted to demonstrate but probably not by as much obviously skin colour has a lot more to do with it, but so do the shirts. [editline]14th July 2011[/editline] bright red shirts are just more menacing.[/QUOTE] well you should test your theory, get some friends together and do it

you're acting as if i'm saying the whole thing is about the shirts. it's race + the shirts to get more of a reaction just so they can demonstrate what they wanted. the shirts exacerbated the issue

[QUOTE=Rusty100;31107452]you're acting as if i'm saying the whole thing is about the shirts. it's race + the shirts to get more of a reaction just so they can demonstrate what they wanted. the shirts exacerbated the issue[/QUOTE] I'm saying the race is such a big issue and the shirts are such a small issue they have no discernible effect on the outcome

i very much disagree, the show chose those outfits, they dressed the actors. you'd have to be naive to think they weren't trying to tip the odds more to their favour, even if it's just by a little bit. i'm not even going to argue, their clothes were very clearly specifically chosen. [editline]14th July 2011[/editline] because the more people that harassed the black kid, the better it is for their television show!

How do you know the show went beyond just telling them what style of clothing to wear

because it's tv, everything is planned to a t

This is by no means a proper experiment. In a real experiment you change only 1 variable to check the result, and it should be the color of the skin here. Not color of the skin + outfit. They should wear identical clothes.

[QUOTE=Silly Sil;31107620]This is by no means a proper experiment. In a real experiment you change only 1 variable to check the result, and it should be the color of the skin here. Not color of the skin + outfit. They should wear identical clothes.[/QUOTE] You may as well just throw the whole study out then, since each person had different bystanders

[QUOTE=Zeke129;31107664]You may as well just throw the whole study out then, since each person had different bystanders[/QUOTE] No they didn't, they tested in the same place, didn't they? The base group of bystanders is the same. Your argument would be valid if they changed the place. You don't know how field experiments work.