Rishab,
> famous violinist joshua bell played for 45 minutes at a DC metro
> station. he earned $32, and less than a dozen out of 1000+ people who
> passed by even noticed (though all children who passed tried to stop and
> were dragged away by their parents). all on video with a nice washington
> post story.
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
A few variations on this experiment would
help to answer some unresolved questions:
[1] Was he merely testing how long it takes
people to shift gears? Would the reaction
have been any different had the setting
forced people to be more stationary
(e.g: the waiting lobby for a transit area)?
[2] How much of this was about how we use the
reaction of others to assess the worth of
something? What would happen if a few
viewers were planted in the audience,
watching in awe?
[3] Would the outcome have been any different
if no implicit request for money were made?
I'd like to see what would happen if he
were standing beside a sign that said:
"Free concert. No donations, please!"
Cheers,
-Jon
