Informative Experience

Improved Essays
Working at a whitewater rafting company during the summer continues to be an enlightening and socially informative experience. Rafters check in at 8 a.m., fill out their release forms, select their lunch choices, and are then given the option of a wetsuit. I work at the front desk where I man wetsuit rentals, selling breakfast items, and answering peoples questions, to only name a few. When you work in this position, you are given the opportunity to observe all the people as they prepare to head out on their trip. Over the years, I have made categories fits almost every rafter; 1. The terrified; this group of people is commonly roped into going by a significant other, friend, or family member. This group of people is commonly terrified by one …show more content…
When I find my boat of people and raft guide for the day, I see six Indians (from India) and two large white Americans. We put on the river and practice a few paddling commands before we head into our first class V rapid of the day, Exterminator. Immediately, I am aware of the poor paddling techniques as they are smashing paddles against each other, and we are barely moving anywhere. This is not uncommon, when you put eight people in a raft and only two have ever paddled before. The large white male has a ripped foot pocket, and believes that he is going to swim today. To compensate for having the ripped foot pocket he sits in an awkward position that was not as stable. We make our way down the gorge and take a smashing hit at Exterminator, most people in the boat panic, stop paddling, and we clip a rock causing the large white American male in the front to tumble out of the boat. Since he was in the front of the boat, all of the Indians behind him were following his paddling but no longer can, so they continue not to paddle. At this point the man has floated too far away from the boat and we will have to eddy out and pick him up at the bottom, but even in the Class I whitewater the raft guide is unable to get the Indians to let go of the hold on lines and paddle. One of the Indian men turns around and says, excuse me sir, it appears we have lost someone from our boat. Of course the raft guide knew we …show more content…
Decision Tree for Helping: is an assessment used to decide whether a person will help or not and the amount of help they will give. Darley & Latané did a series of research studies on bystander intervention, diffusion of responsibility, and what leads people to help. In one of their studies they separated college students into cubicles to discuss a topic over an intercom allowing only one person to talk at a time. One person mentioned having seizures occasionally when under stress. When his turn came around again he became loud, jumbled words, and started choking and gasping. In one condition there were only two people present, in another there were three, and in the last one there were six. The study found that the amount of other people around has a large impact on whether people choose to help or not. From this research they have created the decision tree for helping which includes five steps people go through before deciding to

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