I dread waiting for MRT during the morning rush hour. Just the thought of squeezing into a crowded train turns my mood from good to bad. Some common experiences are being stuck near the door only to see the center portion of the train empty (some commuters are even able to read their newspaper!), a person beside me hearing heavy metal music (I assumed full blast) and being pushed around by people who desperately “need” a seat. I could not think of any explanations for these behaviours but to assume that most Singaporeans are selfish.
Self-interest, or egoistic motivation, is probably the most powerful motivator of our behaviours. However there are situations where own interests conflict with group motive. These situations had been termed as the social dilemma. All social dilemmas involve making a choice between collaborative behavior (behavior that takes into account both one’s own interest and interest of others) and selfish behavior. Choosing to act selfishly produces better immediate outcome for the individual than collaborative behavior. Thus, people tend to opt for selfish behavior when faced with a social dilemma. However, if everyone behaves selfishly, everyone’s benefit will eventually suffers.
Factors that influence the choice between selfish and collaborative behavior include: the feature of the specific situation, presence of social norms, personal experience in similar situation, and dispositional traits of cooperativeness. In the MRT context, even though the train captain tries to persuade commuters to move into the train, people seldom move. Simply put, there is a lack of societal norm in allowing more space for incoming passengers. Personal experience in similar situation may also influence our perception of which behavior is appropriate for the situation. For example, after being denied entry to a previous train (due to overcrowding at the door area ONLY), people usually will not move in when they are now given the chance to “revenge”.
An individual variable known as the social value orientation had been identified to predict people’s behaviour in social dilemma. They are categorized into individualists (concerned with maximizing own benefits), competitors (concerned with maximizing own benefits relative to others), and prosocial (concerned with maximizing benefits of everyone). It seems that people who show selfish behaviours in MRT are likely to be individualist or competitors (e.g. person who listen to loud music in public are likely to be individualistic, pushing others to get a seat are likely to be competitive).
Other than the above mentioned factors, priming and situational labels are also suggested to influence behavior. Priming of schema and the way individuals label social dilemma influences behavior. Thus, showing videos of courteous behavior (making cooperation schema more salient) and how that may benefit each individual (labeling the situation as cooperation-appropriate) may help in shifting behavior towards collaboration.
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5 comments:
I totally agree with the individualist and competitors, form the social value oritentations. Probably, people in MRT jumping to seats when there is any opportunity. Another case, people standing right in front of the MRT doors, charging in before people inside the MRT actually get out.
The world is cruel, man are selfish. That is what my OC told me when I was in BMT. Indeed, egoistic motivation is one of the most powerful motivator behind our behaviors. But come to think of it, these selfish actions actually make us all the more value and cherish altruistic helping behaviors, as they rarely occur in this “cruel world”.
Be prepared to face more egoistic commuters, COE is rising soon and so is the petrol cost. SO more people will be taking public transport!!! ;>
Normally,I would prefer to take the bus rather than the trains though it is faster, but it really leaves you no way to view the surroundings properly.
If everyone just be little bit less selfish and a little bit more considerate, won't the world be a better place to live in. But unfortunately, that's something hard to achieve in our society, because most of us usually (including me) sometime will have the thought of every man for this own. But maybe we can make a difference starting from ourselves, and make this world a better place. Cheers all, lets do it!
I still remember those schooling days when taught to give up seats when saw the needy and the courtesy lion used to see it often. During that period of days, taking public transport don’t seem to be such problems, recently it does get worst. Especially the days when I was pregnant and people keep squeezing and pushing in the MRT, bus or even the lift. Not just the adults the young kids also. The lift in the MRT was meant for needy people but the youngster would also fight to go into the lift. Truthfully, I never use the lift only when I need it such as carrying heavy things or when I pushing the pram. But compare our lifestyles 10 years ago and now had change a lot. It use to be slower pace but now the pace seem to get even faster each day. I was wandering did I old that fast!!!
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