You are walking downtown one day and find a man wearing street clothes who is slumped on the sidewalk. You look around and see others walking and not paying attention, so you decide to do the same thing. You have demonstrated ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people look to others to determine how to behave in a particular situation. In this scenario, the individual is choosing to ignore the man on the sidewalk because they assume that if nobody else is helping him, then it must not be a problem or they may believe that someone else will take care of it. This is an example of the bystander effect, which is a common manifestation of pluralistic ignorance.

You Are Walking Downtown One Day and Find a Man