The smoke under the door experiment was carried out to test the responsiveness of individuals to an emergency. During the investigations, subjects were asked to fill out questionnaires in a room where the study was to be carried out. Smoke was added into the room through a vent on the wall. One condition involved a single subject, and the results showed that 75% of the lone subject took the initiative to report the incident. The second situation involved three naive subjects and the results indicated that 38% acted by reporting the presence of smoke in the room. Moreover, the final state involved three naïve subjects and two confederates who had been instructed to take notice of the smoke but make no attempt to take action. During this experiment, it was discovered that only 10% reported the incident. Therefore, the researchers concluded that when people are in a group, they tend to fear little and hence, less likely to act (Latané and Darley
The smoke under the door experiment was carried out to test the responsiveness of individuals to an emergency. During the investigations, subjects were asked to fill out questionnaires in a room where the study was to be carried out. Smoke was added into the room through a vent on the wall. One condition involved a single subject, and the results showed that 75% of the lone subject took the initiative to report the incident. The second situation involved three naive subjects and the results indicated that 38% acted by reporting the presence of smoke in the room. Moreover, the final state involved three naïve subjects and two confederates who had been instructed to take notice of the smoke but make no attempt to take action. During this experiment, it was discovered that only 10% reported the incident. Therefore, the researchers concluded that when people are in a group, they tend to fear little and hence, less likely to act (Latané and Darley