In the article "In Groups We Shrink" Carol Tavris, states that people think and act differently when they are alone and when they are in a group. According to the article, psychologists call this "diffusion of responsibility" because people in a group are slower to respond. A person alone takes own responsibility and takes action on a situation, but people in a group think that one person has everything under control. I believe people in a group follow what the others do or what they think one of them should do assuming less responsibility. In a group we become slow thinkers and lazier by thinking others will respond properly, but as individuals we are able to respond immediately taking more responsibility as the situation is happening.
I work in a public school and at the beginning of every school year there are several fire drills and everybody must listen and follow instructions properly. There was a day when the school conducted a fire drill and there was a classroom full of students without a teacher. I was contacted for information as I work in the main office and decided to notify an administrator immediately. I could not reach anybody and decided to go to the classroom and give students directions to evacuate the building quietly. I am one of those people that most of the time is a follower when I am in a group, but I definitely take full responsibility when there is a situation that needs proper action. If there was another teacher around at that moment, I would had thought that he was responsible for that group of students. Confronting a sudden situation alone make people think, react and do the most appropriate quicker.
When the 911 terrorist attack happened in 2011, I was working out in the gym with a group of friends. Every media interrupted normal transmission to broadcast what at first it was thought to be an accident. I remember when my group of friends started to watch the television and then I joined them. As the news continued, all of us started to panic and were confused as to what to do next. In the meantime, none of us would take the initiative to do something other than stare at the television; somehow we were waiting for one of us to do something and follow. I decided to go back home and everyone else followed. I don't really think that my reaction would have been the same if I was watching the breaking news alone; I would probably had ran home as soon as I saw what was happening and contact my family to make sure everyone was safe instead of waiting for someone else's reaction.
People individually tend to react sooner and assume more responsibility when confronting a life threatening situation than people in a group. I think that people in a group take more time to respond to a dangerous or life threatening situation because somehow it is easier to believe that someone is already taking care of that situation and a person alone exposed to the same situation has more responsibility because there is no one else to respond.
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