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

and he may be describing himself in a more favorable light. Another concept relating to the self-serving bias is self-concept. Self-concept, found in module three, is what we know and believe about ourselves, an example of this would be saying you are a good friend or person. Corte believes he is an extremely slight case and should stay on the seventh floor, “‘I must confess that this particular sort of change of room doesn’t appeal to me in the least,’” or, “...and though he was convinced that this move did not correspond to any worsening in his own condition…” Giovanni Corte’s condition seemed to be worse than he thought.
The head nurse on the seventh floor of the sanatorium initially got Corte to leave the seventh floor by using a technique called the “foot-in-the-door” phenomenon.

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

on.
Throughout the story, Giovanni Corte wanted to be known as an individual and made sure everyone knew that.

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

expectations.
Consequently, Giovanni Corte showed a strong sense of external locus of control; people with an external locus of control believe their failures or successes are direct results of external forces like fate, luck, or circumstances. “For reasons that the nurse was unable to explain, he had been classed among the more ‘serious’ patients on the sixth floor and so had to go down to the fifth,” he always presumed that the reason he was moving floors was because an outside force was making him and not himself. Because of this, Giovanni Corte eventually developed learned helplessness. Learned helplessness, described in module five, is the sense of hopelessness and resignation learned when a human thinks they have no control over repeated bad events; many elderly patients in nursing homes develop this because they usually have little control over their health and treatments. “It was a result of this execrable mistake, then, that he was removed to his last resting place: he who basically, according to the most stringent medical opinion, was fit for the sixth, if not the seventh floor as far as his illness was concerned! The situation was so grotesque that from time to time Giovanni Corte felt inclined simply to roar with laughter,” Corte couldn’t control the nurses and doctors continually moving him down floors so he eventually gave up.
In conclusion, Dino Buzzati’s story, “Seven Floors,” presents various theories and concepts including the self-serving bias, individualism, and learned helplessness. Giovanni Corte, thought to be a slight case, ended up having many more problems than he thought. Due to learning these concepts, theories, and models in class, they are easily identifiable within the story.