Friday, May 1, 2009
The Milgram Experiment - Period 6
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.
17 comments:
yo mr gallagher the senior ball was bumpin we got people dancin left and right. it was bloody crazy. one thing is for sure, everything's better on the boat!
Heyy now i dont know no nothing bout no nada but that nada dont know no nothin bout da kneee.
I would have to agree with the posts above haha. After watching the film I believe many of the subjects were obedient because they were afraid of disappointing the scientist's and their lab. I believe it was more in a desire to please than in fear of punishment that the subjects continued the experiment obediently. There was no real group to create any peer pressure, and the second round of testing would have diminished the idea of any authority a "Yale Scientist" might have. I believe that the laughter was in response to tension built in the experiment. The pressures put on them by the scientist's methodical comments made many of the subjects nervous. Though many continued through to the end of the shock power, others decided to stop when they felt the power was to great.
Wow, it's gonna be tough to follow up those first couple of comments but here it goes. I think that some of the people were following because they themselves didn't want to get in trouble with the authorities, and as along as they were okay, everything was okay. It didn't matter that because of their actions someone was potentially getting more and more physically hurt. I think that a lot of people were laughing at the fact that a lot of the subjects who were grown men couldn't tell their right hand from their left hand. I agree with evan that the laughter from the subjects could have been in response to the tension in the experiment, because the volunteers knew that they weren't the ones being punished.
I thought the experiment was very intriguing. I was shocked to hear that 50% of the subjects went all the way to maximum voltage. It is amazing to me that the need to obey the rules can desensitize people so quickly and easily. The subjects percieved human suffering and simply ignored it in favor of the rules of the experiment. It just goes to show that maybe not all Nazis were inherently as evil as they seemed, but maybe that they were simply brainwashed by the never ending propoganda coming from Hitler and the Nazi party.
And I think Swanne Flu makes an excellent point
I think that fear of punishment and a belief in authority have incredible power over people being obedient. In this study however there was no fear of punishment for the teacher so they had to have been obeying for some other reason. I was shocked when I learned that 50% of the people went all the way to the maximum voltage knowing that it was severely hurting the student. I thought most people would have had to reaction that the first two people had where they stopped as soon as the person said they've had enough. Even on the switch device it said danger extreme shock, this alone should have made people stop knowing that there is some danger to the person. I can't understand why the teachers ignored what the students were yelling from behind the wall. They were begging them to stop but they continued because one authority figure was telling them too.
I must say, I love this class!
The first time I watched this film was in psychology. I started laughing the first time. The thing is, I wasnt laughing because I thought that it was funny that the person was getting hurt, but rather because I was nervous. That is human nature I think. I have to agree with Evan, that people were afraid of disappointing the scientists. I believe it was that sense of authority that got the people to remain obedient.
The movie we watched about the Milgram experiment demonstrated exactly how much influence someone in power has over his subjects. In this case, it was a scientist, and I canimagine that the influence must have been many times greater when the person in power was a rettifying leader and disobediance was met with death. Swanne Flu has a good point about the knee.
I think the human mind tries to always please others when possible. So when the subjects were told it was necessary for them to continue giving shocks to the patient, they wanted to be able to follow the orders. But at a certain point people's morals come into play and cause the subject to realize that what they are doing is wrong. I find it understandable that someone would continue shocking someone else until the recording was played where the man mentioned his heart was bothering him. At this point I know I personally would have stopped administering the shocks and would have ended the experiment. I think this experiment just shows how individuals are unable to think for themselves and are extremely willing to answer to authority. The scientist was very stern with the subjects and was able to cause some people to administer shocks when the individual was nervous and frightened.
I agree with Swanne flu, without "da kneee" their would be nada
But, on a more serious point, I think Evan was spot-on with his post. The subjects were obedient to the Scientist because they didn’t want to disappoint him. The Yale Scientist mentioned how it was necessary for the subject to continue until the learner learned the word groups. And by not doing that the teacher thought he/she would disappoint the scientist
I thought that the Milgram experiment brought up some interesting characteristics of human nature. I think that the reason a majority of the people administered the highest shock is because they wanted to obey the commands they were being given, even though those commands went against their morals. Also, it would be much easier for them to continue giving the shocks than it would be to defy the experimenter and quit. I think this experiment shows how so many Germans were willing to assist in the mass extermination of the Jews because they were "just following orders."
I also agree with the first post: everything is indeed better on a boat
I think all four reasons can be a cause of why some people follow orders and are obediant. I account laughter as it being a sign of being nervous and relieving tension. It was quite evident when the "teachers" laughed that they were nervous, releaved some stress, and couldn't believe the situation they were in. Most of the volunteers acted with tension and retaliation. Some refused to procceed once they heard that the "learner" was in pain and wanted to leave. Others asked numerous times if they must continue and were hesitant. Pressures that were put on them was that they could be hurting some random man that they did not know and that they could be the responsibility of any pain. Some decided to stop when the "learner" said he was in pain, and others stopped during the second time he screamed in pain.
I must agree with The Dave The Gayle The Rolfe The Gove when they stated, "it was bloody crazy." And ball was surely that indeed.
I believe that obedience occurs when someone has fear of who they are following. When it comes to the people in this film i feel that everyone was following orders because they had fear that they would get in trouble if they didn't. Over all most people are worried about their own well being and would do anything to make sure that no harm comes there way even if they don't agree with what they are doing. As for the reaction of laughter from watching the film, i agree with what a lot of others already said that many people use laughter as a way to cover up if they are nervous and sometimes even when they don't agree with a certain situation. I personally laugh when i am in an awkward situation and i can't think of anything else to do at the time, it doesn't mean that there is actually anything funny going on.
I believe that it is a mix of all of those things that makes people obedient. I believe the two most important are fear and the eagerness to please your superiors. this film was very interesting and it was amazing that roughly half of the people went through all of the way till the end, even though the voice behind kept screaming and eventually giving no response.
The people were definitely scared of the people in higher authority, and they didnt want to dissapoint them, just like most of the class said in their blog posts. It was hard for them to stand up to the scientists, and some of them wanted to stop but they kept going anyways after the scientists told them to do so. That just shows how power plays such a big role in decision making, and such. Most people end up listening to their superiors, to please them or because they are too scared to say anything.
It's difficult to tell why certain people react in certain situations - it is certainly not the same for every person, and the differences can clearly be attributed to the different characteristics of different people. For instance, those who stopped the shocking had characteristics which caused them to feel more sympathy for the subject, causing them to stop with the experiment; however, it is also true that some people are more prone to following directions than they are to acting on their own free will. I do not think, in this case at least, that it was fear of punishment - I think that those who obeyed orders did so because they did not have the confidence to do otherwise. They did not feel good enough about their own morals to stick up for themselves and do what was right, rather they simply bowed to authority. Though I realize that this experiment's purpose was to find tendencies in human nature, I do not believe that all people can be classified in one particular way. Like Evan said though, I think that those who obeyed did so more out of a desire to please than in fear of punishment.
i would have to agree with Brian about the point that people can disregard their human instincts in order to be obedient. It proves that obedience towards people who are thought to be superior is one of our strongest instincts.
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