A Good Opportunity Missed

SEED Magazine has an article on whether people can be swayed by the state of their surroundings: http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2009/01/chaos_begets_chaos.php  
Chaos Begets Chaos  
by Sheila Prakash • Posted January 8, 2009 01:30 PM

  ...When an envelope visibly containing a five-euro note was left hanging out of a mailbox on a sidewalk, 13 percent of the passersby snatched it up. When the same mailbox was covered in graffiti, however, more than double the number of the pedestrians (about 27 percent) stole the envelope. Graffiti was not the only misdemeanor that fostered a cavalier attitude toward theft. When the ground near the mailbox was covered in litter, 25 percent of the subjects stole the envelope. These results are significant for both social and statistical reasons. Is a disorderly environment responsible for disorderly conduct?...

All very interesting. However, I wish they had incorporated a bit of an experiment where they had the post box painted or decorated with religious symbols...what then? If the theft rate plunged towards zero, we would have a very interesting result. It would be a sociological result, however. Keep it in mind that your relation with God is not to be measured as if you were a treadmill-running lab rat.

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