Dr. Jonathan Lasson: Diffusion of Responsibility and Deaths of Student Athletes
Sep 10, 2018
Dr. Jonathan M. Lasson Physiotherapy has released a new how-to guide on developing collective sense of responsibility. Public in general and other interested parties can find the guide online at https://www.ratemyteachers.com/jonathan-lasson/3431593-t.
Wilmington, United States - September 9, 2018 /PressCable/ —
Dr. Jonathan Lasson is a successful and renowned Registered Psychology Associate currently practicing in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a professor of psychology and has taught, written and spoken extensively on many topics in psychology.
The recent tragic death of Jordan McNair, a football player from the University of Maryland highlights what has been portrayed by the media as a culture of fear, intimidation and verbal abuse found in college sports. The fact is that Jordan McNair will never see another day of what would have likely been a very promising future for the young player from McDonough High School in Maryland. His family will never celebrate another holiday, birthday, graduation with Jordan being physically present. However, his spirit will live on for eternity.
What is this culture of fear, intimidation and verbal abuse that seems so prevalent in colleges and does not seem to be going away anytime soon? The culture is one where students are pushed to their limits due to pressure from the colleges and the coaches, athletic directors and training staff. Some would say they get paid to produce those college level standouts. Others might say it’s just part of sports.
However, another more subtle culture emerges the circumstances behind many other students are studied. These students are not limited to athletes but to any student who were part of a fraternity or sorority where they were pushed beyond their limits. Who assumes responsibility? It appears what happens in these terrible situations is that there is, what social psychologists term, a ‘diffusion of responsibility’. On the radio, they were telling about at least seven different individuals or entities who should be blamed for Jordan’s death. What seems clear is that no single person will ever assume sole responsibility as there is a whole culture to blame. Nobody can sue a culture. No one can try to correct that culture, but legal action will only serve to mitigate the problem until the next scandal arises. So, what is needed is to correct the idea that no single person is responsible; rather everyone is responsible. What is the reason why no one called 911 until it was too late?
The Jordan McNair tragedy is only one of countless other tragedies where college students get sucked into a culture of diffused responsibility or bystander apathy. Look back at the deaths of students Maury Lorence of Wesleyan University, Clayton Real of the University of Nebraska, Timothy Piazza of Penn State and the list goes on. Did these students die in vain? Let’s hope not. But nobody has learned the lessons of the past. “If you see something, say something”, does not seem to have resonated loudly enough on college campuses.
How to change a culture then? Firstly, there must be mandatory training where students learn of these tragedies and hear from parents and family members how their lives went from hope to hopelessness. Dr. Jonathan Lasson tries to show students as often as possible clips from human behavior experiments in which everyday people are subjected to abusive or emergency situations and are observed mostly ignoring the situation thinking that it is not their responsibility to intervene. When his students view these clips, they are moved. Inevitably, each semester that he teaches this class, a student will approach him and tell about a situation where they intervened whereas in the past they would have been guilty of bystander apathy. This changes a culture. Once one individual defies the rules of bystander apathy, more people catch on and intervene.
Secondly, the culture on the ball fields needs to change. Coaches and others need to feel protected if they were to call out another coach for being too harsh on an athlete or neglecting their basic physical needs. Not only should they feel protected but to some extent they should be rewarded or at least, recognized for doing one of the most difficult things in life—defying a cultural norm.
Lastly, these lessons must be reinforced by parents. Parents need to keep an open line of communication with their sons and daughters who are being sent off to what is supposed to be a safe place. Too often, students in college do not keep in touch in any sort of meaningful way with family members. Family member are sometimes the best people to assess the mental sate of their children as they know them the best. They should be able to detect if their child is withholding information that could mean the difference between life and death.
Let the senseless deaths of Jordan McNair and so many others not go ignored until the next tragedy. May his family and those of other students whose lives ended too early be comforted with the knowledge that some people are taking responsibility.
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