http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experimentThe Milgram's experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. Milgram first described his research in 1963 in an article published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,[1] and later discussed his findings in greater depth in his 1974 book, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View.[2]..
MotoH said:Well the cat is out of the bag now. Who wants to pretend shock a person?
MotoH said:Well the cat is out of the bag now. Who wants to pretend shock a person?
Ivan Seeking said:You are missing the point.
MotoH said:What is the point? People do cruel stuff for 15 minutes of fame, or that the TV show won't be successful now because that element of "holy Mary and Joseph I am shocking someone" is gone.
Ivan Seeking said:The point is that with a little persuasion, people can easily be motivated to torture others; even to point of hitting the victim with a potentially lethal shock - all for a game in this case.
If you read the wiki link that I provided, you will see that this plays on a famous experiment from the 1960's.
Ivan Seeking said:The point is that with a little persuasion, people can easily be motivated to torture others; even to point of hitting the victim with a potentially lethal shock - all for a game in this case.
If you read the wiki link that I provided, you will see that this plays on a famous experiment from the 1960's.
Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.[3]
The experiments began in July 1961, three months after the start of the trial of German Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Milgram devised his psychological study to answer the question: "Was it that Eichmann and his accomplices in the Holocaust had mutual intent, in at least with regard to the goals of the Holocaust?" In other words, "Was there a mutual sense of morality among those involved?" Milgram's testing suggested that it could have been that the millions of accomplices were merely following orders, despite violating their deepest moral beliefs.
humanino said:I'd like to take a few moments to reflect on the relation between this show and nazi camps, through the notion of "crime against humanity". Often camp survivors would relate horrible facts, but then would realize that the true horror was impossible to tell. The true horror of extermination camps would rather occur when inmates lost hope to the point that they gave up their humanity, and such situations could never be told, only experienced first hand or witnessed.
I am not saying reality television is a crime against humanity. I am saying that we often take very lightly the borderline game they play with human dignity. I think restricting one's perspective on Milgram's experiment here is really missing the essential point.
Ivan Seeking said:The point is that with a little persuasion, people can easily be motivated to torture others; even to point of hitting the victim with a potentially lethal shock - all for a game in this case.
If you read the wiki link that I provided, you will see that this plays on a famous experiment from the 1960's.
edward said:Another experiment, The Stanford Prison Experiment, actually inflicted moderate physical discomfort and extreme emotional discomfort. Needless to say the experiment ended early.
The prisoner group at times actually had bags over their heads. That sounds all too familiar.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=677084988379129606#
"French TV's Game of Death" is a controversial television program that aired in 2010. It was an adaptation of a psychological experiment conducted in the 1960s, where participants were instructed to administer electric shocks to another person under the authority of an experimenter.
The experiment aimed to investigate obedience to authority and the role of conscience in human behavior. It was conducted in the wake of World War II to better understand how seemingly ordinary people could carry out horrific acts under the influence of authority figures.
In the show, 80 participants were placed in a simulated game show where they were instructed to ask questions and administer electric shocks to another participant (an actor) when they answered incorrectly. The shocks were not real, but the participants were led to believe that they were causing real harm. The goal was to see how far the participants would go in obeying the instructions of the host (an actor).
The show received considerable criticism for its potential to cause psychological harm to the participants and for exploiting the memory of the original experiment's participants, some of whom experienced long-term psychological effects. Many also questioned the ethics of using deception and manipulation in a television program.
The experiment and the show both demonstrated the powerful influence of authority on human behavior. Most participants were willing to administer fatal levels of electric shocks when instructed to do so, despite their discomfort and protests. The show sparked a debate about the limits of reality TV and the responsibility of media in portraying controversial events. It was eventually canceled after only one episode.