Milgram has defined obedience as “the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose.” What do you think encourages obedience? Is it fear of punishment? A desire to please? A need to go along with the group? A belief in authority? As some students watched the film Obedience, some laughed. How do you account for that laughter? Is it because something was funny or was there another reason? Those who study human behavior say that laughter can be a way of relieving tension, showing embarrassment or expressing relief that someone else is “on the spot.” Which explanation is most appropriate in this case? How did the volunteers act as they administered the shocks? What did they say? What pressures were placed on them as the experiment continued? How did they decide whether to stop? Did you identify with any of the volunteers you observed in Obedience? Post your reflective comment by the end of the weekend and be sure to make a comment to another student’s post.
14 comments:
I think obedience is encouraged by all of those reasons: fear of punishment, desire to please, a need to fit in/go along with the group, belief in authority, submission, etc. While I don’t remember exactly when it happened, there were a few points in the film when the teacher said something that was interpreted as funny, or when it was obvious that the shouting in pain was fake. I think laughter is often out of nervousness, as demonstrated by the teachers in the film. I think some of the test subjects could have been laughing out of embarrassment, maybe they hadn’t realized exactly how obedient they were. Most volunteers seemed to show some resistance at the idea of continuing to inflict pain upon another human being, except those who were assured that the responsibility would not be put upon them. I think some of the volunteers were easy to identify with; for me it was some of the women more than the men although I would have though that women would be more compassionate then they were.
I think the laughter from some of the students was because they were uncomfortable or nervous. I know sometimes when I am in an uncomfortable situation I try to laugh my way out of it. The students also might not have known what to do. The one teacher that we saw laughing when he first heard the screams ended up crying by the end. That makes it clear that he was uncomfortable with the situation, but was not strong enough to say it had to end. Most of the people that continued the shock after hearing the screams were worried about whose responsibility it would be if the person got hurt. Even though they should have stopped if they were worried they continued when they found out it was not their responsibility. After watching that film I would like to say I would have stopped the punishment. I will not be sure how hard it is to say no until it happens to me, but I believe I would be able to say stop.
I agree with Kristen when she says the laughter was out of nervousness.
Obedience is something that we are taught from the start of all of our lives. Defying authority is something that we learn as we get older and unfortunately not everyone realizes there is a time where this type of action is necessary. There is a fear we get as children of defying because whenever we did, we were punished. Now as adults we have the same fear. Also there is the idea that others know better, or in this case, the expert knew better. However simple logic will tell you that if someone is telling you that their heart is bothering them, then you know that what the "expert" said is false.
I think that obedience is encouraged by fear of punishment, desire to please, a need to go with the group and a belief in authority. I think that people have always been taught to listen to authority figures, and in this experiment the experimenter was clearly the authority figure. I think that because the people were being paid to take part in the experiment that they felt as though they had to do what they were told. I think that laughter is from being nervous. It is common for people to laugh as a space filler when they dont really know what else to do or say. The nvolunteers became more cautious and nervous about administering the shocks when they got a pain response. They would turn and look at the authority figure to get directions as what to do next.Many of the volunteers were very affraid that they would be held accountable if anything happened to the patient. I could identify with the volunteers who were nervous about shocking the patient but continued to do it because I think that I would have done the same thing. I have always been taught to do what authorities tell me to do even if I think that something might not be right. I think that this would affect what I would do in this situation.
I think that Kristen is right that some of teh volunteers were laughing out of embarassment. I think that they were ashamed at what they let the experimenter make them do.I also agree with Kristen that I thought that the women would have been more compassionate than the men.
I think that obedience is encouraged by fear and the desire to please the person in power. In addition, while watching the movie I realized that once the teachers were promised that they were not responsible for the students, then they were more likely to continue the experiment. I agree with Kristen and think that there was laughter by the teachers because they were nervous and felt bad for the students.
I think obedience is a combination of a lot of things and is different for different people in different situations. I think the laughing was part of nerves laughter in part of not sure how to react to the situation. Maybe they thought it was stupid or ridiculous, but instead of saying this they use laughter to release the nerves. I thought the reactions in the film of some of the people being experimented on were shocking. I think knowing how much 150 V might have an effect on the experiment, but even the electrician didn’t seem to be bothered by the high amount of voltage that he was putting through the person’s body. I think the biggest thing that encouraged those to continue was the reassuring by the administrator during the test. I agree with Both Jake and Kristen that the laughter was part of releasing the tension brought on by the situation.
I think that obediance is encouraged mostly by fear, but also by the desire of an individual to please an authority figure. Every kid is taught at a young age to obey an authority figure. For example, kids are taught to immediately give respect to their parents, teachers, police officers, etc... Although this respect would often had been earned, it is normally given before it is earned simply because a person is an authority figure. This explains why the people in the film were willing to disregard their own morals to please the experimenter. These people were thinking that they had to obey the experimenter because he was a intelligent man who was the "expert."
I think that obedience is encouraged by fear and belief in authority. Throughout the movie i felt that during the experiment many continued because they felt as though they had to only because a person told them to. During the experiment many people laughed, which i dont think is out of cruelity, but i think they were just nervous and that was their reaction.
Kristen, i agree that the laughter was out of nervousness as well and i agree with all of your points.
I think that the reason the teachers laughed in the Milgram Experiment was because they were uncomfortable and very nervous, I don't believe they were laughing sadistically because they enjoyed inflicting pain on people. I think this is often true when people laugh in an uncomfortable situation. I believe that obedience is encouraged by all of the things mentioned depending on the person, but most commonly a desire to fit in and fear of punishment. I believe that most volunteers didn't want to hurt anyone and have that burden on themselves but they kept going when the experimenter said they would take all of the blame.
Nate, I think you bring up a great point that every child is taught from a young age to follow directions of the authority figure. That definitely gives some insight to why many of the teachers continued to give the learner the highest shock in the experiment.
I agree with Kristen in that Obedience is encouraged by many factors. I think that of all of them the pressure to fit into a group is the strongest. Although not really shown in the experiment, I think that this social pressure is largely responsible for the size of the nazi movement. I think the most appropriate explanation for the laughter is showing embarrassment. I think everyone would like to think that everyone wants to believe that a person wouldn't continue to administer shocks to a lethal point, so when watching a person do this embarrassment is felt. I didn't really identify with anyone. I feel like I would have picked up on the fact that the experiment was on me.
I think in "The Milgram Expiment" that obedience was encouraged by fear of punishment and a desire to please. I do believe that obedience is also encouraged by pressure to fit in a group, but I really think that fear outweighs that reason. Some of the teachers laughed because they were uncomfortable when conduction the experiment. The volunteers acted nervous and uneased when administering the shocks. Actually, when they did the shocks, they seemed to look neutral, probably because it was a hard thing to do. After hearing yelps from the students, they looked uncomfortable. The pressures that were placed on them were the people conducting the experiment and the reassurance that they, the teachers, were not held "responsible" for any injuries that may occur.
I think that all of the possible reasons listed can be seen as encouraging obedience. I don't believe that it is a single reason, but rather many; such as, a desire to please authority figures, fear of possible punishment, and a willingness to fit in. I thought it was interesting that some students laughed while watching the film, but don’t think it was because they thought it was funny. It was more of a way to show nervousness or a feeling of being uncomfortable. The volunteers acted in different ways, but most of them had one thing in common. When they became concerned about the victim they would question if they should continue and usually end up listening to the authority figure and continuing. Many of them asked if they would be held responsible for anything that happened to the victim. As the experiment continued, the volunteers had to decide if they would listen to the authority figure or make their own decision to stop harming the individual. I agree with what Kristen said about the laughing being out of nervousness. It was interesting to see that similarity in many of the volunteers.
Alexis Ferraro
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