Somebody else's problem

2012-03-05T23:39:28Z

199.19.147.88: /* See also */

'''Somebody Else's Problem''' (also known as '''Someone Else's Problem''' or '''SEP''') is an effect that causes people to ignore matters that are generally important to a group but may not seem specifically important to the individual. Author [[Douglas Adams]]' description of the effect, which he playfully ascribed to a physical "SEP field," has helped to make it a generally recognized phenomenon. The label is now widely used to focus public attention on matters that might have been overlooked and, less commonly, to identify concerns that a depressed individual should ignore. It has also been employed as trivial shorthand to describe factors that are "out of scope" in the current context.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://meetings.informs.org/Conf/Miami2001//TALKS/Sponsor-25.html |title=INFORMS Miami 2001 Annual Meeting - TB18.2 Minisum Location with Closest Euclidean Distances |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>

==In psychology==

Various areas of [[psychology]] and [[philosophy of perception]] are concerned with the reasons why individuals often ignore such matters. [[Optimism bias]] tends to reduce the subjective importance of some matters. Where multiple individuals simultaneously experience the same stimulus, [[diffusion of responsibility]] and/or the [[bystander effect]] may release individuals from the need to act, and if no-one from the group is seen to act, each individual may be further inhibited by [[conformity (psychology)#Normative influence|conformity]]. On a wider basis, all members of society are exposed to so many messages about pressing matters of concern that [[information overload]] may play a part. There may also be a tendency to argue that "I can't fix this problem, so I need do nothing to reduce it" (a [[perfect solution fallacy]]).

However, taking responsibility for negative events that are outside an individual's control can lead to depression and [[learned helplessness]], particularly in adolescents.<ref name=Curry2005>{{cite web |url=https://trialweb.dcri.duke.edu/tads/tad/manuals/TADS_CBT.pdf |format=pdf |title=Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) |author=John F Curry |coauthors=Karen C. Wells, David A. Brent, Gregory N. Clarke, Paul Rohde, Anne Marie Albano, Mark A. Reinecke, Nili Benazon, John S. March |work=Cognitive Behavior Therapy Manual - Introduction, Rationale, and Adolescent Sessions |publisher=Duke University Medical Center |date=2000-03-15 |year=2005 |accessdate=2008-06-18}}</ref> Part of the solution is to help the individual to realistically assign a proportion of responsibility to herself/himself, parents and others (step ''I'' in the ''RIBEYE'' [[cognitive behavioral therapy]] problem-solving method).<ref name=Curry2005/><ref name=Zagurski2005>{{cite web |url=http://www.disastermh.nebraska.edu/files/Psychfirstaidtrainersmanual05.pdf |format=pdf |title=Nebraska Psychological First Aid Training Program |author=Robin Zagurski |coauthors=Denise Bulling, Robin Chang |publisher=University of Nebraska Public Policy Center |year=2005 |accessdate=2008-06-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Rohde P, Feeny NC, Robins M |title=Characteristics and Components of the TADS CBT Approach |journal=Cogn Behav Pract |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=186–97 |year=2005 |pmid=17581639 |pmc=1894655 |doi=10.1016/S1077-7229(05)80024-0 }}</ref>

==In politics and economics==
[[President of France|French president]] [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] warned the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] that "The [decline of the] dollar cannot remain someone else's problem. If we are not careful, monetary disarray could morph into economic war. We would all be victims."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto110920071500182722&page=2 |publisher=Financial Times |author=Krishna Guha |title=The world's currency could become a US problem |date=2007-11-09 |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]'' said that when the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]] was exiled in 1979 he became "someone else's problem" from the point of view of [[Jimmy_Carter#Presidency_.281977.E2.80.931981.29|President Carter's]] administration.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5DD1439F935A35752C1A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 |title=Someone Else's Problem |author=Marvin Zonis |date=1988-11-06 |publisher=The New York Times |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>

In the election of [[2006]], the [[Swedish]] [[Centre Party (Sweden)|Centre Party]] used the phrase "[[:sv:nånannanism|nånannanism]]" (someone-else-ism) as a catchword for their campaign.

==In environment and public protection==
[[British people|British]] politician [[Peter Ainsworth]] acknowledges that "[[climate change]] can seem huge, complex, remote and someone else's problem."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2007/04/climate-change-british-opinion |title=Climate change: Why we don't believe it |author=Lois Rogers |date=2007-04-23 |publisher=New Statesman |accessdate=2008-06-06}}</ref>

''[[The Hundred Year Lie]]'' describes what it claims is the public myth that food and medicine "toxicity health issues are 'someone else's problem'."

Douglas Adams was himself concerned about such failures to recognise the need for action and, with [[Mark Carwardine]], published the book ''[[Last Chance to See]]'', which highlighted endangered animal species.

==In technology==
The sub-goals of [[programmers]] working on a shared artifact "can be deferred to the degree that they become what is known amongst professional programmers as an 'S.E.P.' - somebody else's problem."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html |title=Simulating a Software Project |coauthors=A.F. Blackwell and H.L. Arnold |work=Proceedings of the 9th Annual Meeting of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group |pages=53–60 |year=1997 |month=January |accessdate=2008-06-06}}</ref>

[[Unix]] became popular because when it was developed at Bell Labs "profits were somebody else's problem," so there was no reason not to share the source code with universities.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Linux's roots in Unix |author=Christopher Negus |title=Fedora 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Bible (Bible) |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |year=2006 |pages= |isbn=0-471-75491-9 |url=http://searchsystemschannel.techtarget.com/general/0,295582,sid99_gci1225589,00.html }}</ref>

==In fiction ==
[[Douglas Adams]] has his character [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] describe Somebody Else's Problem in ''[[Life, the Universe and Everything]]'', the third book in the ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' series:

{{quote|An SEP is something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think that it's somebody else's problem.... The brain just edits it out, it's like a blind spot. If you look at it directly you won't see it unless you know precisely what it is. Your only hope is to catch it by surprise out of the corner of your eye.}}

{{quote|The technology involved in making something properly invisible is so mind-bogglingly complex that 999,999,999 times out of a billion it's simpler just to take the thing away and do without it....... The "Somebody Else's Problem field" is much simpler, more effective, and "can be run for over a hundred years on a single torch battery."}}

{{quote|This is because it relies on people's natural predisposition not to see anything they don't want to, weren't expecting, or can't explain.}}

In this case, the ''[[Starship Bistromath]]'' ("a small upended Italian bistro" with "guidance fins, rocket engines and escape hatches") has been hidden from the crowd watching a [[Cricket]] match at [[Lord's Cricket Ground|Lord's]] by an SEP field. People may see it, but they take absolutely no notice of it.

The book says that the SEP field is derived from [[Bistromathics]] and in particular the concept of an imaginary number called a "recipriversexcluson" whose existence can only be defined as being anything other than itself. Modern science has been slow to investigate this further, though Professor John Wettlaufer (of [[Yale University]]) has apparently observed that it is very important for physicists working outside the mainstream "to have a genuine interest in learning about someone else's problem." However, he admitted that "not many people want to do this."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://physicsworld.com/blog/2008/03/physicists_and_climate_change.html |title=March 2008 Archives - Physicists and climate change |publisher=physicsworld.com |accessdate=2008-06-06}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Externality]]
* [[NIMBY]] (Not In My Back Yard)
* [[Tragedy of the commons]]
* [[First they came…]]
* [[Buck passing]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{HitchhikerMiscellanea}}

[[Category:Group processes]]
[[Category:Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy technology]]
[[Category:Perception]]

[[cs:Pole problému někoho jiného]]
[[de:Technologien und Hintergrundinformationen aus dem Roman Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis#Problem-anderer-Leute-Feld]]

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Somebody else's problem