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It’s called the "broken windows" theory and it says that in a neighborhood where buildings have broken windows, people are more likely to engage in bad behavior. Maybe because they figure no one will care. Or there’s little chance they’ll get caught. The idea has been embraced by people in law enforcement—crack down on petty crime and you’ll also put a halt to more serious offenses. New York City, for example, used the logic to justify a “zero tolerance” approach to things like the squeegeeing of car windows. But the theory has been hard to prove. Crime did go down in New York, but was it directly related to the squeegee decline?
Now Dutch scientists say that there may be something to the whole “broken windows” thing, after all. For example, they found that cyclists who parked their bikes near a wall covered in graffiti were twice as likely to litter than people who parked near the same wall after it was painted clean. The results were published online by the journal Science on November 20th. I guess we should be thankful that the cyclists’ bad behavior stopped at littering. And they didn’t decide to, say, swipe a better set of wheels for the ride home.
—Karen Hopkin
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9 Comments
Add Commentyou needed a study to tell you bad environments provoke bad behavior?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat is the Alices Restaurant "one big pile is better than 2 smaller piles" theory of litter accumulation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisso what does it mean when you live in an environment where you leaders base their behavior on the idea that campaign contributions are more important than the welfare of their constituents?or where the leaders of industry favor short term profit over...everything?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thischimmeychango has identified two of the many probable indirect/direct causes of the original broken windows which may have led to the implied sanction of the undesirable behavior.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhereas trickle-down behavior change may have gotten us into much of the "mess," perhaps trickle-up change may be able to help us get out of it.
Ange Lobue, MD, MPH, BSPharm
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Well see there's this neat study Sciam did on "anecdotal evidence" and the problem is, you can't base anything on anecdote, or old tales, or "i heard it from my friend." You need this thing called scientific evidence, which unequivocally answers some question (or at least attempts to). Perhaps you should give it a read. Without a study, its just anecdote.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLOL!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRight
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyeah, i believe thats what industrialists say when confronted with the damage they do environmentally... at least, thats what i heard from my friend;p.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting article... My views on Broken windows theory based on one hellova harrowing experience here: http://monceabraham.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/broken-windows-theory-taking-a-drive-through-delhi-night-2-am/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisp.s.: Still awaiting for the 'windows' to be fixed, and some affirmative action to be taken...
Cheers, Monce