Can the Law Make Us Become Upstanders? Should we have a law that will allow are authorities to legislate morality? In other words, should we have a law that will punish bystanders for not making a simple phone call to possibly save one’s life from imminent danger? What would the consequences be? Where there be limits to a law like such? There have been many cases here in America where other peoples ignorance has caused many to suffer and possibly die. Think about it, would you want to live your life feeling like a hero by saving someone from danger, or live the rest of your life with guilt on the fact that you didn't even try to take action to save someone from crisis?

In March of 1993, 33-year-old award winning photographer Kevin Carter …show more content…
This phenomenon is known as the bystander effect, in which others feel a “diffusion of responsibility” according to Darley and Latane's research. In 1968, Darley and Latane had conducted “The Smoke Filled Room Experiment” where they invited 24 subjects to test an experiment on conformity. 23 of the subjects were told to stay in the room when smoke went off as a part of the experiment, while one of the subjects did not know anything about the experiment. Ultimately, Darley and Latane discovered that, “When alone, 3/4 of the subjects reported the smoke before the experimental period was terminated.” In addition, they had also discovered, “When two passive confederates were present, only 10% of the subjects in this study actually got out of the room or reported what was ostensibly a serious problem.” In other words, they learned that only 90% of the subjects (not including the confederates) had stayed in the smoke filled room due to conformity. If this experiment were a real, according to Darley and Latane, everyone would have died from the smoke in less than 3 minutes. To conclude, this shows how dangerous conformity is in our world