As I understand it, Broken Window Theory was a strategy used by the NYPD
to combat crime. It was based on Zimbardo's attempts to get Stanford
students to vandalize an abandoned car placed near the Stanford campus.
Despite raising the hood and removing the licence plates, the car sat
untouched. Zimbardo reasoned that perhaps the "releasing cues" for
vandalism in Palo Alto weren't strong enough, so he tried to make the car
look more abandoned by bashing in one of the windows. This worked - only
after the windows were bashed in did students proceed to strip the car.
BWT, therefore, was based on the idea that acts of vandalism may more
likely to occur in conditions of disorder - The reasoning, then, is that
if efforts are made to remove signs of physical disorder (graffiti, etc.)
and make the environment pristine, this will prevent future acts of
vandalism from occuring as frequently as they would if the environment was
left in a run down and disorderly state. Apparently, this philosophy has
been quite successful in reducing crime throughout NY.
This site describes the theory more fully:
http://eagle.onr.com/onpatrol/cs.brokwin.html
Hope this helps,
- Matt
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Matthew W. Prull, Ph.D. CONTACT INFO:
Assistant Professor tel: (509) 527-5890
Department of Psychology fax: (509) 527-5026
Whitman College email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
345 Boyer Avenue ---forthcoming web page---
Walla Walla, WA 99362 http://people.whitman.edu/prullmw
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 20:28:57 EST
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Broken Window Theory
> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Some time in the past I jotted down a note while driving down the road
> listening to NPR about the "Broken Window Theory" (re: Social Psych)
and
> now I can't remember what it was. Does anybody on this list know? TIA
