Dr. Stanley Milgram 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; or is it a need to go along with the group? As some students watched the film Obedience, they laughed at the people receiving the shocks. 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 some of the volunteers act as they administered the shocks? What pressures were placed on them as the experiment continued? How and when did they decide to stop? Did you identify with any of the volunteers you observed in Obedience? What did you learn that you didn't know before you watched this film?
25 comments:
I found Milgram Experiment be be a very interesting film. At first, I thought if I were in the position of the two men at the beginning of the novel I would be so thankful to be given the position: teacher or the position: student. As I continued to watch I realized that being the teacher was a very difficult job. If I had been in the teacher's position I would not have continued. I have a lot of compassion for people and would never want to make them suffer. I would feel awful just giving him the lowest vault shock.
I though it was cool how in the end the experiment had really been to see if the teacher would continue and the student was never really shocked. This experiment really showed how people can go against their better judgement and what they think is right to please those in authority. I think the most important message of the film is to not go against what you believe is right.
I think obedience is encouraged by the fear of authority. Even if the person doesn't know what the consequences are, it's as if they fear the potential consequences. I am unsure as to why in this experiment people felt like they couldn't get out of it. I think it is just hardwired in our brains that when someone tells us to do thiings and tells us that we don't have a choice, even when we do, we just think that we don't. I also think that laughter is a way to express nervousness. I always laugh when I am in uncomfortable poisitons because I don't know what else to say. I think it is just a reaction. They decided to stop when they realized the person was in severe pain and one guy didn't even stop when he thought the guy was dead. Overall, I think this was ridiculous that 50% kept administering shcoks up to 450 volts.
I think that fear of not being in the "right" breeds obedience. All of the participants went along with administering the shocks because they were afraid that if they didn't, they wouldn't be correctly completing the experiment. However, it doesn't seem like these people were evil or ruthless. None of them seemed to enjoy giving the shocks, and they expressed concern and doubt, some of them even crying. So this shows that it wasn't that the people were just evil, but that it is just human nature to obey authority. I think that the response of laughing that some of them showed was to try to alleviate the tension and pressure they felt, like a nervous laughter. As the experiment went on, the wording of the experimenter became stronger, like "It is essential that you continue." Through watching this film, I realized the extent that humans go to in order to fit in and comply, and this could apply to Nazi Germany, where in addition to orders from authority figures, citizens were also brainwashed.
I believe that it is a hint of all to need to go with the group. I think that the fear of punishment and a desire to please come in hand in hand as a need to fit in with the group. When the people laughed, I thought why were they laughing cause they were causing others pain until the person spoke out it wasn't funny for the person. It was all an aspect of human nature as a way to relieve tension. Some of them were skeptical to what they were does and why they were doing it. A lot of pressure was placed on them while they were doing the experiment like the students life and whether to continue the experiment or not.
Watching this experiment in action really made me think about who I truly am as a person. Watching the "teachers" continue going through the process of "applying an electric shock" to the "learner" as they got questions wrong even though they "knew" that person was getting hurt, I thought that they simply must have chosen some cold-hearted people at random for the experiment. However after the fact, I realized that it is human nature to follow commands from a superior force. A less serious example of this would be how we as students show up to school everyday, go to our designated classes at the bell, sit down, and pay attention merely because someone of a higher standing (parent, teacher, government) tells us to. Many of us complain about having to wake up and go to school, but in reality, no one is grabbing us and dragging us into the building day after day. In reality, all the doors are unlocked and we could potentially walk out at anytime. However, we don't do any of these things because we are told not to and we obey that force. This is almost identical to what happens in the Milgram experiment because even though each "teacher" knows what they're doing is wrong, more than 50% of them continue to shock the "learners" up to 450 volts because they are commanded to do so. It is difficult for us to admit, but in the end, we really are all "sheep" following the direction of the herd.
I think the need to go along with the group is what encourages obedience. Based on the film, it was clear that the “teachers” who kept going with the shocking, it was because the administrator told them to do so.
The reason the men who were the “teachers” were laughing is because they were nervous and knew what they were doing was wrong and couldn’t believe they were doing it. Sometimes people life when they are nervous or scared because they don’t know how to handle the situation.
In this case of the experiment, I think the most appropriate explanation for the laughter is relieving tension because they feel so bad for the other person being shocked.
Some of the volunteers refused to continue shocking the other person, and some kept going until they heard the person being shock say they were in pain. As the experiment continued, the volunteers felt pressured to keep going because the administrator of the experiment said to keep going and the shocks were not dangerous, just painful.
Before watching this film, I didn't know that the people conducting the experiment would actually be testing the "teachers'" behavior, instead of the "students'".
After watching the Milgram Experiment, I feel that obedience is encouraged through the fear of someone with hire athority. It is always scary to go agaisnt someone with higher power. I feel as though the laughter in this film was brought out because of the nervousness of each of the teachers. When people get nervous, many tend to laugh in order to calm their nerves or just because the situation they are in in so uncomfertable. What I find most shocking is how 50% of the teachers went all the way up to 450 volts. If I were the teacher I would want to stop the first time I heard the student in the other room say ouch.
While watching this video I had an idea that the person in the video was not actually being shocked. I thought it was interesting to see how far people would go when being told by a figure of authority to do it. It was also interesting to see people laughing as they were doing it. I believe that was there way of coping with it because they actually knew it was wrong. It is interesting to watch this and then relate it to Hitler because you get a sense of how people really do listen to the figure of authority.
After watching the Milgram Experiment I feel like I've learned a lot about obedience and what causes people to be so obedient. It's just human nature- not to say that it justifies any wrong doing purely just because one was being obedient. It made me realize why I was obedient- of course I was afraid of the consequences of being unobedient but also no one wants to be the outcast. The laughter coming. From both the students and the person administering the shock seemed to be nervous laughter which is probably a defense mechanism when they know they're doing something wrong or they're uncomfortable and they're trying to relieve tension. Some of the volunteers started to get emotional when they thought the shocks were hurting the other person. The person doing the experiment was pressuring them saying it would ruin the test results and they had gotten paid to do the experiment. They decided to stop mostly around the time the man said his heart was having trouble and he was yelling to get out. I think I identified more with the volunteers who stopped the test because I have a very low tolerence for hurtful behavior- physical or emotional- so I personally would not be able to give the shocks. I learner from this experiment that it is our responsibility as humans to do what we believe is right and not just go along with the pack and be obedient.
I was absent for this film
After watching this I realized how hard it is for people to disobey authority. At first I did not think they'd even be able to make it past 100 volts, knowing and hearing how much it would be hurting the student, but I was surprised when they continued even when they started to feel guilty. They were not being held at gun point they were still at their own free will. It is disturbing to see the influence someone with self-proclaimed power can have on an individual or group of people. This really helped me understand the mindset of the kids joining the Hitler Youth.
This experiment was emotional for me because it showed how a person does whatever they're told and the consequence of another is hurtful. In the beginning of the experiment the "teacher" would laugh and feel no remorse for the "student" which made feel disgusted inside. There was this one "teacher" that realized what he was doing was wrong and just evil. He didn't want to continue the experiment because he knew he kept on shocking the "student" multiple tomes when he got the question wrong. When Mr. Gallagher paused the video he told us that the "student" had died and the "teacher" didn't realize that; he just sat there and kept on pressing increase the amount of vault-age.
I feel like the Milgram Experiment shows how there are two types of people in the world. Those who follow brainlessly and those who make their own limits to what they will and will not do no matter the price. Those of the people who stopped after the shouts of pain I think have the highest resistance to the 'group' in this case the experimenter. Those who went up all the way to 450 volts, had the lowest resistance to the 'group' and would have probably been one of the many brain washed Htiler Youths back in Nazi Germany. To see the true difference helps give hope to humanity.
The movie was very eye opening, it makes me wonder if the results are the same in this day and age. Every likes to believe that there’s a line they wont cross but I guess we don’t know until we get there. The fact that 50% of people went to the 450 volts knowing that it was an extreme voltage was just insane. It was also interesting that a Psychologist was asked to predict the amount of people that would go to the max and his response was that he would be lucky to get one or two people to go up to 450 volts. As Mr. Gallagher said everybody knew what went on during the Nazis control of Germany and with all this knowledge of the horrible things that happened this still just mindlessly followed order. I would consider this experiment a success as it shows up the nature of people, it is much easier to follow orders faithfully than to question them thoughtfully.
I believe people are obedient because of a fear of going against authority figures. In the experiment, many teachers continued to shock the students even though they felt it was wrong and they worried that they were hurting the students because the man conducting the test insisted that the teacher must finish. I think the laughter was a nervous reaction to an uncomfortable situation. One teacher during the experiment began laughing as he heard the student yelling, which I believe was the result of the unpleasant situation. He began crying as he gave more voltage because he clearly did not want to shock the student, but he also did not want to go against authority. This experiment gave me a better understanding of how Hitler gained so much power and why the Nazis were able to come to power. People fear authority, so it was easier for people in Nazi Germany to obey authority than it was for them to stand against the Nazis.
While I was watching the Milgram experiment, I learned that the teachers in this experiment wanted to stop shocking the student, but were afraid of disobeying whoever was in authority. This can relate to Nazi Germany when teachers drilled these ideas into the minds German youth, they were probably doing it out of fear of the Nazi authority. Many citizens in Nazi Germany must have kept quiet also because they were afraid of going against the Nazi party, who had so much authority. I believe that the Milgram experiment was a way to show that it's human nature to obey whoever is in authority. As shown in the experiment, it's very difficult for an individual to go against what an authority figures says, especially when the orders are strictly enforced. After watching this experiment, I realize that even when someone who is in authority says, "you have no choice, you have to continue", you can reply by saying, "I do have a choice actually, and i'm not going to continue."
Before watching this film I was aware of the Milgram Experiment, since it was used in an Episode of Law and Order: SVU. However I was unaware that the experiment was originated at Yale and by a student whose jewish parents faced the holocaust. I relate closely with those teachers that stopped I the learner refused to go on further in the experiment. This experiment was very fascinating and flawlessly tested a persons obedience.
I believe that fear, and the desires to conform and please superiors all factor in to obedience. However, the importance of each of these factors varies from person to person depending on their personality. I also think that whatever of these factors is greatest determines whether or not a person will be obedient to the point where they will allow their own actions to break their own moral code. One of the so called “teachers” in the film understood that he was causing severe pain and possibly compromising the safety of his “student”, but he kept second guessing himself and only continued to administer the shocks once he had convinced himself that he was not responsible for what happened to his “student”. He lied to himself in order to make himself feel safe. No one can ever be responsible for someone else’s actions. Our actions are the only thing we can ever truly own. What we do is what defines us, and the instant that we start accepting that someone else is responsible for what we do, our individualism is truly lost.
This experiment that we watched in class was very intresting but also very disapoinitng. I knew after a couple people went that i could tell that the person behind the doors getting shocked wasmnt their and it was a tape. Then the worst part about the experiment was when the teachers wouldnt stop shocking the indiviual when he was getting answers wrong after a certain amount of shocks. The test was for the teacher to see if they had the power and will to stand up for themselves and say that they didnt want to do anything that would harm the person inside. It truly shows what type of person you are after this experiment and some of the teachers should really have opened their eyes after this to see who they truly are after all.
In my opinion I think obedience is caused by fear of being punished and not wanting to be singled out. I think it was very hard for the people to continue shocking the students even when they heard the yelling for help. The reason I think kids were laughing at the film is because they felt uncomfortable and didn't know how else to react so that is how their reactions came out. Many of the teachers were very nervous to continue and didn't want to but didn't want to mess up the experiment. They wanted to help the experiment but didn't want to hurt the student so they were torn. From watching this film I learned how much the way you grow up impacts decisions later on in your life.
I think that obedience is created by a combination of fear of being punished and pressure from society to fit in and be one with the majority. There is this fear in society of being out casted or becoming different in society as being different in society is looked down upon. At the time the Nazi’s were in power, a large component behind obedience was definitely fear of being punished or fear of authority. People weren't looking as much to fit in with the majority; they were looking to not be singled out because they knew the consequences of being different. This is because at the time Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and basically all non-Nazis were punished and criticized. I do believe that the laughter shown in the experiment by the teachers was based off of relief of being the more superior or the non-wrong individual. This is because it is also looked down upon in society to be wrong. As a result, people put emphasize on things that make them look superior to others. Laughter out of nervousness may have been the reason behind laughter in some of them.
This experiment showed me how people will go along with what they are told even if it ends up hurting someone. They were told to increase the voltage no matter what and in response to the students screams they continued. One man even started crying but he continued to administer the shocks. I think the reasoning behind this is a need to please and a fear of higher power. The individuals who stopped after the first complaints of the student showed strength in their stance and would not change their stance. They did not fear the experimenter and they were not aiming to please their mind set was to help the learner and they knew they weren't doing so by shocking him.
Initially I felt uneasy about watching the Milgram Experiment. It was only when I found out that the learner wasn't really getting shocked that I felt better. I couldn't understand what made the 'teachers' feel that they had no choice but to continue on with the experiment. They kept saying it themselves that there was always a choice but if they were so against it, why did they keep going? Obviously I cannot say for sure that I wouldn't have acted the same way, but I think before even knowing about the experiment, as soon as I hear that the patient would be shocked, I wouldn't be able to make myself do it.
Now, I'm not sure exactly what it was like to be a nazi soldier, but somehow I have this image in my mind that men would be punished if they didn't follow orders and that they would be punished if they seemed heretical and tried to leave the army. If this were true, then I think that there would be much more motivation to follow orders as opposed to the $4.50 an hour to act as a teacher of the Milgram Experiment.
So then I can't understand what made the teachers continue to 'shock' the learner... even if the responsibility was on the experimenter's hands.
Obedience is rarely a selfless act. I feel as though each person, whether obiedient or not, acts according to their own agenda. Ultimately we all want to get something out of it for ourselves, whether it's the gratifying feeling of being a good pupil, or feeling apart of something/connected to something larger then themselves. In this sense, we all choose to e obedient (or not) in order to make ourselves feel better. I believe laughter occurs when confusion and internal turmoil sets in. It's a reaction to not knowing what is right, because your mind is telling you to go in the opposite direction as the person wants you to go. It relieves stress, And also because slight harm inflected on others is generally funny to people... As long as we know it is not harmful. People who continue to listen to the instructor had no sense of self discipline. They are the kinda of people who I feel may often stay indifferent on social/political/etc issues. They need to be told what to do in order to feel strongly about it, they cannot come to a stand point on their own. As long as someone says it's ok they will believe it. I tend to be this kind of person as well. The laughter comes from second guessing and forming their own thoughts and opinions. It's the tearing away from one stand point and into another/forming another.
I was truly shocked by this film. I could not beleive the number of people that followed through twith the entire experiment. I hope this film is shown widly. i know it made me more aaware of how easy it is to follow blindly. Im glad this film was made to educate people on the consiquences of following the wrong orders
Post a Comment