On "Broken Window Effect"

Philip, a psychologist at Stanford University in the United States? Simbadu conducted an experiment in 1969. He found two identical cars, parked one in a middle-class neighborhood in Palo Alto, California, and the other in the relatively dirty Bronx, new york.

Based on this experiment, political scientist Wilson and criminologist Karin put forward the "broken window effect":

Broken window effect refers to the bad phenomenon in the environment. If left unchecked, it will induce people to follow the trend and even aggravate it.

While waiting in line to buy train tickets, many people were waiting in line to buy tickets in an orderly manner, when a man suddenly cut in line and stuffed money into the counter. If no one stops him, two or three people will go to the front for many reasons. Do you want to buy it first? If the conductor is soft-hearted and sells the tickets to these people, the whole team will soon be in chaos. Everyone felt that they were the most anxious, and they all pushed forward. The crowd changed from linear to fan-shaped and chaotic. At this time, the conductor shouted again: please line up, please line up, no one will pay attention.

Going out late in the morning, there was a traffic jam on the road, and everyone was waiting for the intersection in an orderly way. At this moment, a car suddenly cut in line and no one stopped it. Other cars will cut in line when they see it. Everyone is in a hurry. If he can cut in line, why should I wait here? As a result, the road became more and more blocked.

Our community implements garbage sorting, and there is only a fixed drop-off point on the first floor, which is stipulated to be open from six to eight in the morning and evening. Many people park their cars on the first floor and the elevator goes straight to the first floor. They don't want to throw rubbish on the first floor. One day, someone secretly took the garbage to the first floor and threw it in the corner. No one cares about the property, and the cleaning didn't come to clean it. Later, the corner turned into a garbage dump, and everyone threw rubbish at that place. It was not until someone passed by and couldn't stand the smell, complained about the property, installed a camera and stipulated the punishment regulations that it gradually improved.

To give the simplest example, my friend's house just started to be clean and tidy, and I was too busy with work to tidy my room for a while. Put your shoes and clothes casually, and get together to wash them after dinner if you don't want to wash the dishes. She said that every time she came home and saw the house in a mess, she thought that it was such a mess anyway, so she was too lazy to clean up, so the house became more and more messy. If she takes the time to clean the house and tidy up any mess, it may develop in a good direction.

The existence of any kind of bad phenomenon is transmitting some kind of information, which will lead to the infinite expansion of bad phenomena. At the same time, we should also be highly vigilant against those seemingly accidental, individual and minor "faults". If we turn a blind eye to this kind of behavior, we will connive more people to "break more window glass", and it is very likely to turn into a "levee of a thousand miles".

Regardless of life or work, we should try to avoid the "broken window effect" and let life develop in a good direction.