Seventh Floor By Dino Buzzati

Italian novelist, Dino Buzzati, in his story, “Seven Floors,” describes the struggles a man, Giovanni Corte, has with his slight illness in a sanatorium. According to the story, the seven floors of the sanatorium are separated based on the “gravity of their state;” the seventh floor is for the extremely mild cases while the first floor is for the cases the doctors can’t fix. There are various concepts and theories, we have been learning about in class, found within the story. Self-serving bias, described in module four, is defined as the tendency to perceive oneself favorably. The story begins with an example of this, “Although his was an extremely slight case;” the readers don’t actually know if Giovanni Corte is an extremely slight case

This concept, discussed in module nine, is the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. “He wanted to ask an entirely personal favor: the following day a woman with two children was coming to the hospital: there were two free rooms right next to hiss, but a third was needed; would Signor Corte mind very much moving into another, equally comfortable room,” by first getting Corte to agree to move rooms, the nurse was then able to get him to move floors. Because Corte was convinced to leave the seventh floor, he began to compare himself to the patients up there. The social comparison bias, found in module four, shows how people compare themselves to socially desirable people. “Six floors, six solid barriers, even if only because of a bureaucratic mistake, weighed implacably above Giovanni Corte,” each floor up was far more desirable compared to the one he ended up

Individualism gives priority to personal goals and refers to how people identify themselves. “He made a point of stressing the extremely special nature of his position to the new doctor,” whenever Corte was moved to a new floor he always discussed how he should really be on the seventh floor with the doctors and patients, “But he did insist, despite nurses’ banter, that the label on the door of his new room should be read ‘Giovanni Corte, third floor, temporary.’” Also, Corte displayed the false uniqueness effect because he underestimated how common his behaviors were, “He was much concerned to impress upon his companions that he was with them only for a few days, that it was he who had agreed to go down a floor simply to oblige a lady, that he’d be going up again as soon as there was a free room.” By trying to be an individual, he ended up giving himself false hopes and