Stanley Milgram radio documentary
In 1961, Yale University social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted incredibly provocative experiments in obedience in which subjects administered apparently painful and even lethal electric shocks to others just because an authority figure in a lab coat told them to. (The shocks were fake and the recipients were shills, but the subjects didn't know this.) More than four decades later, ABC Radio InterNational's Gina Perry tracked down some of the victims subjects. Beyond The Shock Machine
Previously on BB:
• Virtual version of Stanley Milgram obedience experiment
• Stanley Milgram's shocking new biography
• Milgram Reenactment
Previously on BB:
• Virtual version of Stanley Milgram obedience experiment
• Stanley Milgram's shocking new biography
• Milgram Reenactment
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I saw something about this on a documentary. I can't recall the premise of the fake study that the subjects were taking part in, but the subjects were to give an electric shock to a person when he gave an incorrect answer to a question. Prompted by the person in charge of the experiment, they gave increasingly high voltage shocks up to a lethal level. Most of the subjects went up to dangerously high shocks, but I think most stopped before the lethal level was reached. It was amazing watching the distraught woman give this man, begging to be released from the study, a lethal shock - just because she was told to do so.
I recall a similar study where a group of about 20 volunteers were divided into two groups, half were jailers, half were prisoners. The study was to last for a week or two, with the jailers enforcing strict prison like rules on the prisoners. After just a few days, the jailers became mean and acted horribly to the prisoners. The prisoners became depressed, and increasingly upset. The study had to be stopped well ahead of the scheduled time, because of the effect the situation was having on the subjects.
After the study, the jailers were amazed and stunned by the cruel way they had acted towards the prisoners. Some of the prisoners had to seek counseling, they were so effected by the experiment.
Its odd that most people, it seems, are just a few steps away from doing something, or acting in a way that they would never think themselves capable of.
TOM HALE @1, Yes, that is really the key learning from Milgram's "obedience to authority" experiments.
One of my undergrad professors was a grad student of Milgram's. Interesting stories...
Tom @ 1, they told the shockers that it was a study of the impact of negative reinforcement on education, if I recall correctly.
The second experiment you mention was the Zimbardo experiment. If I recall correctly, jailers were not instructed to enforce strict rules. Instead, they were left to make their own decisions on how to administrate it.
I would reccommend a book called 'Opening Skinner's Box.' It is a study and review of many of the most famous behavioral studies that are popularly known.
The experiment was re-created on TV a couple of years ago by Derren Brown for "The Heist". He was trying to find suggestive people he could groom to carry out an armed robbery in response to pre-suggested subliminal triggers.
Amazingly only one person had heard of the experiment before and she still got halfway down the board before stopping. Chillingly, the responses of the other participants were almost identical to those in Milgram's study.
Youtube link
Milgram's study (and to a lesser extent, the Stanford prison study) directly led to much of the current content of the current APA code of ethics.
Uh, that should be ABC Radio National - no 'inter' there.
#1 - you're looking for the Stanford Prison Experiment.
This may be somewhat dark, but I made a wallpaper a few years back for work based on one of the Migram experiments.
http://vehiclehitech.com/pictures/formerbg/Beatings%201.1%20-%20Obedience.jpg
I don't recall exactly if that is Migram's experiment (it was a variation on the theme)
You'll notice that the subject (the guy administering the shock) is forcing the "victim's" hand onto the electrodes in this one, which is a bit more fucked up than the experiment where the "victim" was isolated from the experimenter behind a plate of glass.
Those were some damn odd years, and yes, that sort of stuff led to the current code of ethics.
If you're interested in this sort of stuff, I'll point you to http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=970
will the Abu Ghraib and Gitmo Experiments be published soon?
Takuan - there may be problems with publishing the results of the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Experiments - rumour has it that the subjects selected to play the Muslims are a bit pissed-off.
The results have been published... Check out Phillip Zimbardo and his book 'The Lucifer Effect'.
Is there any way tot listen to it?