The opening anecdote refers to the famous “Good Samaritan” psychological study at Princeton Theological Seminary. Twenty seminarians were assigned to write and deliver a sermon on the parable of the Good Samaritan, from the Gospel of Luke, while another 20 were assigned random biblical topics. One by one, the seminarians were allowed to leave the hall and head to where they thought they would be giving their sermon. Some were told they had plenty of time, while others were told they were late and had to hurry. Along the way, each encountered a planted actor, sitting in a doorway along the street, groaning in evident pain. More than half of the students passed right by the “injured” man, and the seminarians assigned the parable of the Good Samaritan were no more likely to stop and emulate that character than the others. Crucially, the factor that most consistently predicted whether a seminarian would stop to help was whether they thought they had time.

Goleman then introduces the concept of “urban trance,” or the phenomenon of people paying less attention and not noticing others when surrounded by a crowd. As an example, he describes an experience of his own, in which he encountered an apparently unhoused man sprawled out on the stairs of a subway station, seemingly unconscious.