Why shortcuts are like broken windows
In 1969, psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment to test a theory that later became known as the Broken Windows Theory.2
2 The Broken Windows Theory: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/304465/.
His team parked one car without license plates in a Bronx neighborhood and another in an allegedly “better” neighborhood in Palo Alto. Then, they waited.
The car in the Bronx was picked clean of valuable parts within 24 hours and then passersby started to randomly destroy it.
The car in Palo Alto was not touched for a week, so Zimbardo’s team smashed a window. From then on, the car had a similar fate to the car in the Bronx and was destroyed in the same short amount of time by people walking by.
The people taking part in looting and destroying the cars came from across all social classes and included people who were otherwise law-abiding and well-behaved citizens.
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