So what do I write about today? Well after looking back on the week, I figured it out and somehow it relates to Lincoln University. Normally I try to separate myself from school as much as possible but I found this subject too good not to write about. So I was sitting in my Social Psychology class the other day and was introduced to a new topic. Basically, some folks did some research to see how easily people would obey an order from a person who they thought was a figure of importance.
This guy named Stanley Milgram came up with an experiment to see if people would follow orders. What he did was tell one participant that they were conducting an experiment in regards to memory. The participant would be the “teacher” and another person, whom was an actor for the sake of the study, would be the “learner.” The teacher would ask a series of questions and with each wrong answer they would have to shock the learner. Now what they did first was shock the teacher with 45 volts of electricity to give them a taste of what it would be like. From the reactions of the participants, I could tell it wasn’t very comfortable. I’ll say again the person the participant was shocking as just an actor. He wasn’t really shocked.
So the experiment starts and with each wrong answer the voltage goes up. The scale goes from 15 to a LETHAL 450. Yea! LETHAL! Keep in mind the people doing the shocking see the actual scale in front of them. It has labels warning them of the severity of the shocks that they’re administering. During the questioning the participant has a “researcher” sitting in the room telling them that the experiment requires them to continue shocking after wrong answers are given.
What happens throughout is absolutely mind blowing. The actors in the experiment are in a different room but the participant can hear their reactions so they know the consequences of every shock. When they reach about 220 volts, the actor starts shouting “let me out of here… my heart is bothering me.” Wow! You’ve gotta be thinking that after hearing that, participants would refuse to go on. Nope, the show must continue. Some question whether or not they should but the “researcher” in the room says the experiment requires that they go on.
Surprisingly, some people went on without being phased. Oh, by the way, after the actor said he was having heart problems, he fell completely silent. The participants even ask if they killed him. Yet they still fucking go on! Some people even finished, yep they went all the way to 450. Some even ask where they go from there. Now, nobody was really harmed in the experiment of course but after finding out the intentions of the study the participants definitely had some thinking to do. There was a percentage, however, that did stop after a certain voltage was reached. With all of the instances of this experiment, the number was around 30 percent of the people actually stopping.
Some literally believed they may have killed or seriously harmed another person. At the time it was kind of funny to see their reactions during the experiment but as I analyzed the situation further it was rather disturbing. These people knew they were hurting someone and just the presence and suggestions of a so called researcher influenced them to keep going. They knew it was wrong, yet they kept going.
What does this say about human nature? We all say that when faced with a dilemma such as this that we would do the right thing. Well I’m sure that’s what the participants of this experiment said too. Milgram likened this experiment to the Holocaust because of its nature. The Nazis under the leadership of Adolph Hitler, simply just did what they were told and executed over 11 million people. That’s a lot of people! He filled their heads with so much jacked-up nonsense and they actually believed they were cleansing the world. It’s absolutely crazy that one man would go to such extraordinary lengths to cause so much pain and suffering among innocent people. The reasoning given during the trials of Nazi soldiers was simply as I said above; they just did what they were told. Just like the participants in the experiment.
This has to be one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. The messed up thing is the people in the experiment were just average Joes off of the street. Not some crazy Nazi fuckers. This means that any one of us can be influenced to do some dumb, useless, immoral, and horrible things. After seeing this, I’ve decided I’m going to do my level best to keep thinking for myself and take the road less traveled. I don’t want to just be another Kool-Aid drinker especially when it goes against my beliefs. Granted, I’ve followed when I didn’t completely agree and we all have but seeing this study puts a new spin on that. I now see how easily people can be convinced into doing something that in their hearts they know is wrong. So let this be a little inspiration to do what you believe is right. That might be a little cliché but that’s because it’s held true for so long. Give it some thought. Until next time. God bless.
This guy named Stanley Milgram came up with an experiment to see if people would follow orders. What he did was tell one participant that they were conducting an experiment in regards to memory. The participant would be the “teacher” and another person, whom was an actor for the sake of the study, would be the “learner.” The teacher would ask a series of questions and with each wrong answer they would have to shock the learner. Now what they did first was shock the teacher with 45 volts of electricity to give them a taste of what it would be like. From the reactions of the participants, I could tell it wasn’t very comfortable. I’ll say again the person the participant was shocking as just an actor. He wasn’t really shocked.
So the experiment starts and with each wrong answer the voltage goes up. The scale goes from 15 to a LETHAL 450. Yea! LETHAL! Keep in mind the people doing the shocking see the actual scale in front of them. It has labels warning them of the severity of the shocks that they’re administering. During the questioning the participant has a “researcher” sitting in the room telling them that the experiment requires them to continue shocking after wrong answers are given.
What happens throughout is absolutely mind blowing. The actors in the experiment are in a different room but the participant can hear their reactions so they know the consequences of every shock. When they reach about 220 volts, the actor starts shouting “let me out of here… my heart is bothering me.” Wow! You’ve gotta be thinking that after hearing that, participants would refuse to go on. Nope, the show must continue. Some question whether or not they should but the “researcher” in the room says the experiment requires that they go on.
Surprisingly, some people went on without being phased. Oh, by the way, after the actor said he was having heart problems, he fell completely silent. The participants even ask if they killed him. Yet they still fucking go on! Some people even finished, yep they went all the way to 450. Some even ask where they go from there. Now, nobody was really harmed in the experiment of course but after finding out the intentions of the study the participants definitely had some thinking to do. There was a percentage, however, that did stop after a certain voltage was reached. With all of the instances of this experiment, the number was around 30 percent of the people actually stopping.
Some literally believed they may have killed or seriously harmed another person. At the time it was kind of funny to see their reactions during the experiment but as I analyzed the situation further it was rather disturbing. These people knew they were hurting someone and just the presence and suggestions of a so called researcher influenced them to keep going. They knew it was wrong, yet they kept going.
What does this say about human nature? We all say that when faced with a dilemma such as this that we would do the right thing. Well I’m sure that’s what the participants of this experiment said too. Milgram likened this experiment to the Holocaust because of its nature. The Nazis under the leadership of Adolph Hitler, simply just did what they were told and executed over 11 million people. That’s a lot of people! He filled their heads with so much jacked-up nonsense and they actually believed they were cleansing the world. It’s absolutely crazy that one man would go to such extraordinary lengths to cause so much pain and suffering among innocent people. The reasoning given during the trials of Nazi soldiers was simply as I said above; they just did what they were told. Just like the participants in the experiment.
This has to be one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. The messed up thing is the people in the experiment were just average Joes off of the street. Not some crazy Nazi fuckers. This means that any one of us can be influenced to do some dumb, useless, immoral, and horrible things. After seeing this, I’ve decided I’m going to do my level best to keep thinking for myself and take the road less traveled. I don’t want to just be another Kool-Aid drinker especially when it goes against my beliefs. Granted, I’ve followed when I didn’t completely agree and we all have but seeing this study puts a new spin on that. I now see how easily people can be convinced into doing something that in their hearts they know is wrong. So let this be a little inspiration to do what you believe is right. That might be a little cliché but that’s because it’s held true for so long. Give it some thought. Until next time. God bless.
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