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 week.
34 comments:
I thought the Milgram experiment was a very interesting experiment. I personally think the laughter is something people do when they get nervous. The ‘teachers’ laughed when they heard the ‘learner’ shout because they were nervous and they didn’t know what to do next, they didn’t know how to handle the situation. They knew the ‘learner’ was getting hurt by the shocks but they didn’t know how to handle it and that’s why they laughed. Throughout the experiment many of the ‘teachers’ refused to move on. They refused to move on because they felt that they were causing harm to the ‘learner’ and they didn’t think that was okay. The person who was in charge of the experiment told them that they didn’t have a choice and that they must go on. The ‘teachers’ believed that they did have a choice and the person getting shocked had a right to say when they should stop. The one person who really stood out to me was the man who multiple times tried to stop but kept getting convinced by the head of the experiment to move on. After the voice stopped responding he kept going because he was convinced to do so. I found it really difficult to watch because all the other ‘teachers’ stood up for what they thought was right and this volunteer felt really pressured and didn’t know how to handle the situation.
I think obedience is encouraged through punishment and the need to belong. One might be obedient in order to please for a while but if the authoritative figure ever overstepped their boundaries the desire to please would die down.
I believe that the people who were laughing throughout the movie were nervous and didn’t know what else to do. They tried to make light of it to make themselves feel better and as though they weren’t harming anyone. Almost all of the volunteers tried to get the authoritative figure to allow them to stop but when the authoritative figure kept pushing they gave in. The volunteers were worried that they were hurting the learner which made them want to stop. I don’t know what I would have done if I were a volunteer. I’d like to say that I would have stopped very soon in the experiment but I don’t know if I would have been able to defy the authority figure.
I also found the movie extremely difficult to watch as did Megan Sullivan; it was hard to believe that people would go on with the experiment!
I believe the laughter was really not because the teacher didnt think it was funny but the nervous of hearing the learners get shock. The Volunteer were scared and coudnt tell if the learner was still alive but the guy in the white coat told the teacher to keep on going with the experiment. The pressure was that they were getting money for experiment and the guy in the white coat kept on pushing the voulunteer to give the learner shocks. I agree with Amanda and Megan that it was hard to watch because you see how the people who are giving the shocks are feeling when they dont hear the learner.
I think a desire to please and a belief in authority encouraged the individuals to proceed with the experiment. I think the individuals who continued, simply didn’t want to disobey the instructions. The man who continued through to the end tried to justify his actions by getting reassurance from the instructor repeatedly. There were many times throughout the experiment when this particular man seemed like he would stop, however as soon as the instructor said it was mandatory, he complied.
I agree with Megan about the laughter being brought on by nervousness and stress. I think they laughed not because the situation was funny, but because they felt stressed and conflicted about what they were doing.
Society encourages obedience. I believe this because of how we are brought up. Children are taught to listen to authority and follow what they explain because we are told that they are right. It could be a fear of punishment in a way only because we could be punished for not being obedient. We are scared of what would happen if we don't follow. As for laughing, I feel as if they did that because in an subconscious way it makes them feel better than that person. They think that the person who exclaimed their pain that they could take it on without saying a word. They felt like they were stronger than that person receiving the shocks. In this case according to the three options, I feel like it was a way of relieving tension for the supposed pain they were causing. It's hard for me to identify with the volunteers unless I was put in that same position.
Brenda makes a good point on the desire to please authority. This definitely could be a possibility. The volunteers didn't want to get in trouble for doing the wrong thing in the eye's of the authority.
I have seen the Milgram experiment earlier this year in my Psychology class. We had watched it to show the psychological aspects of being told what to do, and how we succumb to it. I had never heard or seen this experiment before this year, and I was quite surprised when i saw people just shocking a "learner" for doing something wrong. I also liked watching the Milgram experiment updated, which exactly the same thing happened, even with woman put into the experimental group. I agree with Megan when she said the man that stood out to me was the mand who multiple times tired to stop but kept going on. He was the "real" factor for me in this experiment.
I agree with Megan on how I believe that the teachers laughed because they were nervous and were beginning to doubt the experiment a little bit. I think they were caught off guard by the increasingly dramatic yelps of the learner and didn't know how to handle the situation.
The Milgram Experiment was an interesting film to watch. Some of the teachers pushed on with the experiment while others stopped. It was interesting to see what a person is willing to ignore and push on and in the experiment it was the obvious pain of the learner. I feel like it shows the human race and how we are sometimes so selfish and inconsiderate for other human beings even when they are in pain.
I think that trust in authority and self-consciousness encourage obedience. Self-consciousness I think creates the desire to please, a need to go along with a particular group, and also a belief in authority because a self-conscious person has so much doubt about themself. I think in this experiment, the laughing mechanism displayed by certain participants was an attempt to release tension from the situation and also a way to express relief that someone else is "on the spot". In the beginning of the experiment, particpants displayed no trouble administering the shocks, however, as the learner began to express his discomfort, most of the teachers either asked to check on the learner or refused to further the experiment. The participants usually decided to stop when the learner expressed that his heart was bothering him or when he refused to answer.
I agree with Brenda i think that people would succumb to the pressure of a figure in an authoritive position. Unfortunately that is how human beings are, they too often give in to peer pressure.
I agree with Nick in that this experiment definitely shows a major flaw in the human race, that people would be okay with acting in such a way toward another human being and treating them in such a manner.
This was my second time watching the Milgram and I think that I definitely got more out of it the second time around because I could relate it back to the Nazi and their obedience to authority and inability to think for themselves and carry out their own thoughts. I do think that there is some form of desire to please authority and that was clearly shown in the experiment when the person would ask to stop they almost had a tone of disappointment in themselves that they didn’t want to continue and that they felt bad about doing so to start. However, there were a few people that refused to continue which made me think about how many of the Nazi actually wanted to follow through with the horrific things that they did.
I thought the Milgram experiment was one of the most dificult film to watch because it hard to see the a person is getting hurt. I think that the laughte was because the person were afraid of what they were doing but the man in the white keep pushing them untill they decide to quit because they were afraid that the person getting th shots were going to die or get hurt really bad
I think that the milgrim experiment truely proves that anyone has the capacity to do what the nazis did under certain conditions. The people in the milgrim experiment were encouraged to do as they were told because they were recieving instructions from a man in a white lab coat, which gave him a certain authority. People also trusted the man in the lab coat thinking he knew what he was doing, everything was safe, and the experiment was going to be useful and put to good use. The volunteers in this case were also fueled by fear to continue. Fear that they were messing up an experiment and that their actions to not continue would have a serious negative effect on the data or experiment. I think many of the prophesied were laughing were not laughing at the subjects being shocked but were rather to nervous and hesitant and relieved these feelings through laughter. Many people were very nervous web administering shocks and showed clear signs of distress and anxiety. There were a few people that said they weren't going anyfarther because they were afraid for the man getting the shocks. I think the most interesting person in the experiment was the man that said he was going to stop and when the man in the lab coat said he was completely responsible for the man receiving shocks, basically once he knew he wasn't responsible for the man receiving shocks he continued to go all the way up to the highest voltage and all the way back down. Many of the people that stopped did it because they feared the other mans health was in danger and the man receiving shocks said he wanted to stop.
I think Emily made a good point about their self consciousness fueling their actions and making them go along with the authority figure.
I think that a belief in authority, and the tying going with the group to empower the authority who has followers, is what causes people to follow command. Some of the laughter was due to the odd noises recorded, and furthermore the repetition of recorded noises. Others were likely nervous. The volunteers acted with purpose and felt safe behind the guise of authority commanding them. They decided to stop when they felt that the subject was seriously hurt or in danger. I did not identify with and of the testers.
I would like to add that Brenda makes a good case as t why pleasing authority is another reason why the testers acted as they did.
The Milgram experiment exemplifies exactly how obedience is encouraged within the human race. Most likely people feel the need to be obedient because they fear punishment by an overarching and more powerful force, such as the government or the police force. Another reason why people choose to be obedient is to gain acceptance by a group of people. If one is disobedient, they will be looked down upon and will be considered and outlier. I believe that the "teachers" laughed in the experiment for multiple reasons. For one, I believe that some of the "teachers" actually thought it was funny to hear the "student" go through the pain of the shock. Often it is funny or entertaining to people to see other people struggle or experience pain, because they themselves dont have to feel the pain. I also believe that some of the "teachers" actually felt nervous during the experiment and didnt know any other way to react. However, it was relieving to see that many of the "teachers" actually stood up and stopped conducting the experiment because they felt uncomfortable with hurting the "student".
I agree with Megan in that the teachers must have felt nervous during the experiment which triggered their laughter. I also agree that the one subject who stood out to me the most was the teacher who continued to shock the student over and over again, even when the student terminated a reaction and remained completely silent. It appeared that something bad had happened to the student at this point but the teacher continued to conduct the experiment. This was very disturbing to watch.
The instructors that laughed while delivering the shocks I believe were laughing as a way to let out their nervousness. Everyone does something different when they are nervous some people tap their foot, others touch their face, and in this case it was laughter even though it was inappropriate for the situation. I believe the obedience came from the passive personalities of the participating instructors. They had such a desire to please others that they became so passive that they were capable of being convincing to do anything.
I missed this documentary.
I think that the desire to please the authority encouraged obedience in the Milgram experiment. The authoritative figure kept repeating things like it was essential to go on with the experiment and that the shocks would only cause pain but not death. I think the reason one of the teachers kept going on with the experiment was because the authority kept telling him that the subjects volunteered for the experiment and he wouldn't be responsible for anything that happens to the volunteer. This is the second time I've seen this film and I'm still shocked with the authority and their ability to cause so much harm to the subjects of the experiment. I agree with Kelsey and that the Milgram experiment can relate to the Nazis. The Nazis wanted to please Hitler just like how the teachers wanted to please the authority even though they knew it was wrong to keep going with the experiment.
I have to agree with james in that it was the teachers nervous reaction when they lauphed at the yells from the learners pain. You could tell that they were a little uneasy about the fact that they were shocking another human being but they continued to do so because they were orderd and paid to fallow through with the experiment. Its disterbing to watch the fact that even after the teachers were givin a sample shock when they started and yet some of them were able to get all the way up to 450 volts wich is lethal.
I have seen this video already in another class, but the last man at the end who continued to go on multiple times only became more uncomfortable for me to watch. I actually felt angry when the man was told that "no responsibility" would be placed on him if the learner was hurt. He felt guilty about being the one to physically cause the pain, but in the event of a disaster he would not be charged of any sort of crime, so he continued at the expense of the experiment. You can apply this same sort of mentality to the Nazis' actions taken in the concentration camps during Hitler's "experiment" of exterminating the Jewish people.
I agree with Megan that the teachers were not truly laughing because it was "funny", but because they were nervous and trying to relieve some of their tension. I remember just a few days ago, I was rock climbing in gym class, and as i was being buckled into the harness and everyone watched me start to climb, I was laughing silently to myself. I was extremely anxious because 1.) I'm a little bit afraid of heights and 2.) Everyone would be watching if i did something embarrassing. I definitely wasn't laughing because I thought something was funny!
I have seen this video before in Psych class. Watching it again, I realized that it was hard for the teachers to stop shocking the learners when the director kept telling them to keep going. I feel like if I was in the teacher's position, I would stop the experiment when I wanted to stop; even if the director said it would mess up the lab. Many teachers kept asking to stop when they thought they were causing servere pain and discomfort to the learners. One man in particular kept asking the director to check on the learner when he wasn't responding. I thought this man showed concern, yet he kept continuing the experiment when the learner wasn't responding; which was unusual. It seemed like he was dead. I agree with Megan, I think the teachers had the right idea to want to stop when they realized they were inflicting pain on the learners, but they didn't know how to stop when the director kept pressuring them to continue.
I found the Milgram experiment to be uplifting at some instances and apalling at others. It was comforting to see that some 'teachers' refused to continue with the experiment after the first indication that the learner was uncomfortable or in pain. However, I find it almost impossible to believe that someone could continue the experiment, against their own moral judgement, because of the sheer authority that they felt from the doctor running the experiment. Even more apalling to me was the 'teacher' who continued to test the learner after being reassured that we would not be responsible for the 'learner"'s injuries or even death. This experiment showed me the different ways in which people react to immoral demands by authority. Through this film I learned how incredibly essential it is to follow your moral compass, despite what anyone else says or does.
Amanda offers an interesting explanation for the reason that some 'teachers' laughed during the experiment. The nervous laughter seemed sadistic and offensive to me in the beginning, but now I realize that it could have been a reaction to the shock of hurting someone and feeling powerless to correct the immorality of the situation.
I think this film was very interesting because it showed the different reactions of all the test subjects to the uncomfterble situation they were placed in. However most people stopped shocking the guy in the other room once they realized he was actually getting hurt. I believe the students in the class laughed because it they were nervous or uncomfterble with the situation the "teacher" was placed in.
I believe with amanda in the sense that obedience is encouraged through punishment and the need to belong.
I was absent for this class.
Post a Comment