“We’re looking out for people like us and friends and family, but we’re not often extending that circle of care to people outside that group,” says Jay Van Bavel, a New York University psychology professor. A 2005 study found that an injured stranger wearing a specific sports team shirt was more likely to be helped by a fellow fan than if he or she was wearing a rival team’s shirt or an unbranded sports shirt. "The pandemic has highlighted that a lot of people think, 'I've just got to take care of myself.'"Įven pre-pandemic, those who have studied the behavior of bystanders have long known that in emergencies, people don’t usually feel inclined to help others who aren’t part of their circle or with whom they don’t have a shared identity. The overriding desire to stay safe makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint, according to Langdon, who says humans learned as a species early on that to survive, “we had to be wary of people that are not like us and stay away from scary things.” COVID-19 exacerbated that inherent suspicion of others when it created a fear that anyone, with or without symptoms, could be carrying the virus that has since killed close to 5 million people worldwide. “Social isolation, over time, means that you focus on yourself,” he says. For one, Zimbardo says, isolation from lockdowns and self-quarantines has not only heightened people’s tendencies to avoid others, but it’s increased the likelihood that more people will be self-centered and less willing to put a stranger’s needs above their own.
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