In practice, that number was closer to ten. In another experiment, participants leaving the lab had to ask for directions to Columbia’s campus gym, the entrance of which is below street level and difficult to spot. If the passer-by gave directions, the participant then had to ask if their new acquaintance would walk them to the gym. ‘I was just over there, and I couldn’t find it. Can you take me there?’ they explained. The participants asked for this favour around three blocks away from the gym - meaning that the stranger would need to make a small but inconvenient detour to fulfil the request. Suspecting that most people would be unwilling to take time out of their day to help another, the participants assumed that they’d have to approach about seven people before someone would agree to take the detour. When they performed the task, however, they found that around one in every two people offered to go out of their way to help.
