Helping Others: Poverty Simulation

I had the opportunity yesterday to attend an event called a "Poverty Simulation". The purpose of the event is for people to feel what it is like to be poor by creating a simulated environment with scenarios of real situations where people are struggling to survive in their impoverished situations (specifically in the U.S.). This goes along with the chapter we read about helping others in our text.

One of the main ways I noticed that the poverty simulation goes along with Social Psychology and helping others is that of "time pressure". The simulation was set in periods of timed weeks within approximately 15 minute periods leading up to about one month of time that has passed (one hour).

Time pressure in Social Psychology states that people are less likely to help others or notice others in need when there is pressure for time (Markus et al., 413). During the simulation, people were constantly running around attempting to accomplish tasks to benefit their situation which led to less people helping each other.

However, there were some people who teamed up and helped each other out. For instance, two groups/families decided to help each other when one was evicted from their home (not real, just scenario). The reason for this is probably that the family assisting the other group and letting them stay in their home is because they were less busy and more aware and accepting of the responsibility of helping the other group.

So, from this, we can conclude that it is difficult to accept the responsibility of helping others when there are time constraints. However, it is not impossible! If you are interested in helping others there is a website below that can give you ideas and experiences of how others find creative ways of helping people in need. The website is called Random Acts of Kindness and is a very useful resource for anyone who wants help others. Check it out, leave your comments, and have a great weekend!

http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

Sources and more information about poverty simulations:
Markus, Kassin, and Fein. Social Psychology. 8th ed. 2008. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2011. Print.
http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/IdeasInAction.aspx?id=de876708-9a1e-4416-a566-3c4c7171a398