The present article puts forward a behavioral disinhibition hypothesis stating that, often, at least some levels of behavioral disinhibition are needed to overcome people’s inhibition to intervene in dilemmatic situations in which they have to choose between different actions with good reasons for each of the actions involved. Results reported indeed show that people to whom disinhibited behaviors were salient or people with stronger predispositions toward behavioral disinhibition were more likely to intervene in trolley and footbridge dilemmas.
Carver, C.S., & White, T.L. ( 1994). Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 319-333.
2.
Gray, J.A. ( 1990). Brain systems that mediate both emotion and cognition . Cognition & Emotion, 4, 269-288.
3.
Thomson, J.J. ( 1986). Rights, restitution and risk. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4.
van den Bos, K., Müller, P.A., & van Bussel, A.A.L. (2009). Helping to overcome intervention inertia in bystander’s dilemmas: Behavioral disinhibition can improve the greater good. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 45, 873-878.
