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| '''Somebody Else's Problem''' (also known as ''Someone else's problem'' or ''SEP'') is an effect that causes people to ignore matters which are generally important to a group but may not seem specifically important to the individual. Author [[Douglas Adams]]'s 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> | | "'''Somebody else's problem'''" or "'''someone else's problem'''" is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it. |
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| ==In psychology== | | ==Examples== |
| [[Richard Dawkins]] argued in [[The_Selfish_Gene#Many_phenomena_explained|The Selfish Gene]] that organisms can act [[Altruism|altruistically]] (against their individual interests) to help related organisms reproduce. In this sense recognition of possible threats to the group is an important survival trait.
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| 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|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_%28psychology%29#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|perfect solution fallacy]]).
| | A 1976 edition of the journal ''[[Ekistics]]'' used the phrase in the context of bureaucratic inaction on [[low-income housing]], describing "the principle of ''somebody else's problem''" as something that prevented progress. Where responsibility for a complex problem falls across many different departments of government, even those agencies who wish to tackle the issue are unable to do so.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=ekistics+1976+somebody+else%27s+problem&btnG= Seventeen reasons why the squatter problem can't be solved], S Angel, S Benjamin - [[Ekistics]], 1976</ref> |
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| 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 |origdate=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 }}</ref>
| | Referring to a team working on a [[computer programming]] project, [[Alan F. Blackwell]] wrote in 1997 that: "Many sub-goals 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 name=ppig-1997-01>{{Cite journal |
| | <!-- more info on this cite may someday show up at http://www.ppig.org/workshops/ppig-1997-9th-annual-workshop --> |
| | |url = http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html |
| | |title = Simulating a Software Project: The PoP Guns go to War |
| | |last1 = Blackwell |first1 = Alan F.|author-link= Alan F. Blackwell |
| | |last2 = Arnold |first2 = H.L. |
| | |journal = Proceedings of the 9th Annual Meeting of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group |
| | |pages = 53–60 |
| | |date = January 1997 |
| | |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081026050403/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html |
| | |archive-date = 2008-10-26 |
| | |url-status = live |
| | |access-date = 2015-03-24 |
| | }}</ref> |
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| ==In politics and economics== | | ==Douglas Adams' SEP field== |
| [[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>
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| [[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> | | [[Douglas Adams]]' 1982 novel ''[[Life, the Universe and Everything]]'' (in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Novels|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' [[comedy science fiction]] series) introduces the idea of an "SEP [[Field (physics)|field]]" as a kind of [[cloaking device]]. The character [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] says, |
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| After [[Hurricane Katrina]], [[Barack Obama]] said that "...when you turn on the TV or open the newspaper and hear about all the trouble in the world, there will be pundits and politicians who'll tell you that it's someone else's fault and someone else's problem to fix. ...there is another path you can take."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://obamaspeeches.com/087-Xavier-University-Commencement-Address-Obama-Speech.htm |title=Xavier University Commencement Address |date=2006-08-11 |accessdate=2009-01-17}}</ref>
| | The narration then explains: |
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| ==In environment and public protection==
| | Adams' description of an SEP field is quoted in an article of "psychological invisibility", where it is compared to other fictional effects such as the perception filter in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', as well as cognitive biases such as [[inattentional blindness]] and [[change blindness]].<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/13/sight-unseen-critic-at-large-kathryn-schulz Sight unseen], Catherine Schulz, [[The New Yorker]], April 13, 2015</ref> |
| When trying to "alert the public to the risk of low-probability, high-consequence disasters such as severe floods?... we may be asking the public to act on someone else's problem".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/multiattachments/2304/DocumentName/Developing_a_risk_communication_model.pdf |title=Developing A Risk Communication Model to Encourage Community Safety from Natural Hazards |year=2004 |month=June |author=Peter O’Neill |pages=11 |publisher=New South Wales State Emergency Service |accessdate=2008-06-06}}</ref>
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| [[United Kingdom|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>
| | ==See also== |
| | | * [[Abilene paradox]] |
| The ''[[The Hundred Year Lie]]'' book describes what it claims is the public myth that food and medicine "toxicity health issues are 'someone else's problem'".
| | * [[Buck passing]] |
| | | * [[Bystander effect]] |
| "Litter, however spread, seems to be particularly sensitive to the effects of the SEP Field; once the empty cigarette carton is discarded it is immediately enveloped in the field and disappears! The pop bottle, also no longer desired, immediately pops out of sight; sweet wrappers, fast food containers ... all these things, and many more besides, all of them disappear once they have been discarded by their owners: all of this waste material becomes the pervue of "someone else" and is therefore invisible."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.localrags.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2719 |publisher=Hawkinge Gazette |title=Letters-Someone else's problem |accessdate=2008-06-06}}</ref>
| | * [[Externality]] |
| | | * [[First They Came]] |
| 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.
| | * [[Moral responsibility]] |
| | | * [[NIMBY]] (not in my back yard) |
| ==In technology==
| | * [[Other people's money (disambiguation)|Other people's money]] |
| The sub-goals of [[programmers]] working on a shared artefact "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>
| | * [[Sheeple]] |
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| [[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> | |
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| ==In fiction ==
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| ===Somebody Else's Problem field ===
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| [[Image:Lords test match.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lord's Cricket Ground]], [[London]]]]
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| [[Douglas Adams]] has his character [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] describe Somebody Else's Problem in ''[[Life, the Universe and Everything]]'', the third book of the five book ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' trilogy: | |
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| {{cquote2|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.}}
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| The technology required to actually make something invisible is so complex and unreliable that it isn't worth the bother. The "Somebody Else's Problem field" is much simpler and more effective, and "can be run for over a hundred years on a single [[flashlight|torch]] battery."
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| {{cquote2|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.}}
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| 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.
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| 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 [http://pantheon.yale.edu/~jw378/ 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>
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| The "Somebody Else's Problem" label is now in widespread use, perhaps due to the popularity of the [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] books, and has become a useful tool for presenting and analysing situations.
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| ==References== | | ==References== |
| {{reflist|2}} | | {{reflist}} |
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| == See also ==
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| * [[NIMBY]]
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| {{HitchhikerMiscellanea}}
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| [[Category:Group processes]] | | [[Category:Group processes]] |
| [[Category:Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy technology]] | | [[Category:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]] |
| [[Category:Perception]] | | [[Category:Perception]] |
| [[Category:Philosophy of mind]] | | [[Category:Problem solving]] |
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| [[de:Technologien und Hintergrundinformationen aus dem Roman Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis#Problem-anderer-Leute-Feld]] | | [[cs:Seznam pojmů, osob a vynálezů ze Stopařova průvodce po Galaxii#Pole problému někoho jiného]] |
| | [[de:Hintergründe zu Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis#Problem-anderer-Leute-Feld]] |
"Somebody else's problem" or "someone else's problem" is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it.
Examples
A 1976 edition of the journal Ekistics used the phrase in the context of bureaucratic inaction on low-income housing, describing "the principle of somebody else's problem" as something that prevented progress. Where responsibility for a complex problem falls across many different departments of government, even those agencies who wish to tackle the issue are unable to do so.[1]
Referring to a team working on a computer programming project, Alan F. Blackwell wrote in 1997 that: "Many sub-goals can be deferred to the degree that they become what is known amongst professional programmers as an 'S.E.P.' – somebody else's problem."[2]
Douglas Adams' SEP field
Douglas Adams' 1982 novel Life, the Universe and Everything (in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series) introduces the idea of an "SEP field" as a kind of cloaking device. The character Ford Prefect says,
The narration then explains:
Adams' description of an SEP field is quoted in an article of "psychological invisibility", where it is compared to other fictional effects such as the perception filter in Doctor Who, as well as cognitive biases such as inattentional blindness and change blindness.[3]
See also
References
cs:Seznam pojmů, osob a vynálezů ze Stopařova průvodce po Galaxii#Pole problému někoho jiného
de:Hintergründe zu Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis#Problem-anderer-Leute-Feld
