Stanley Milgram, a well known psychologist, conducted a very thought provoking experiment in 1962 at Yale University. He brought in well educated men in to their lab and they were asked, by the "authority," to shock "learners" when they got questions wrong. These men being tested were called the "teachers." They were told that they were part of an experiment studying learning, but really their behavior was the thing being tested. They were supervised by the "authority" dressed in a white lab coat, who would tell them to proceed shocking the "learners." The learners were only actors, but they were instructed to scream, try to get the "teacher" to stop shocking them, and also stop responding as if unconscious when the "voltage" got really high. Every time a "learner" would get a question wrong, the "teacher" would go up in voltage. The voltages went up to 450 volts, 66% of them actually continued until they reached the most dangerous voltage. Some wanted to stop, but the "authority" would tell them to proceed and most did.
I have heard about this experiment before, but today in class we watched a more in depth documentary on this experiment. Although, a disturbing experiment it reflects the tendency of humans to comply with the so called "authority." This experiment tests just how far obedience will go. The man who conducted this experiment, Stanley Milgram, explained this experiment's connection from what was seen in the Holocaust. Most of the people who aided in the perpetration of the Holocaust were seemingly normal people. But, Milgram wondered, how could normal people commit such acts that they knew were wrong?
I think that this tendency to do what the "authority" says is okay to do, is seen in many cases. If an "authority" tells them it is okay to do something, they automatically assume they can do it because the "authority" has taken responsibility. In that way I think this experiment shows diffusion of responsibility. They do not feel like they are in charge, so they continue to do it. I see this in a lot more innocent ways in my life. An example, one time I was at a party with my family. I was having fun talking to some of my mom's friends. She had briefly left to have a conversation in the kitchen, but she left her phone on the table. Her friends wanted me to take a picture of them and post it on my mom's instagram, without her permission. I was skeptical because I knew my mom would not want me to do this, but because they kept telling me that they would take responsibility if she was mad I did it. It all worked out in the end, but I would have never done that to my mom if I did not feel like I could point my finger at them and say, "They made me do it!" Do you guys have any personal examples of when you have seen this same human tendency in your life? Do you think diffusion of responsibility is the key problem here?
I definitely think that diffusion of responsibility is the main source of the people acting against how they believe they should. I have seen this happen all the time, especially with sports. One of my coaches once told me that if we were going to win, I needed to take out one of the other players. I didn't even think much of it, because my coach had told me to and I figured that was just part of the game. So I did. I didn't realize that what I did was wrong until some of the parents asked me about it and I actually had to explain myself out loud and I couldn't.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that diffusion of responsibility is a major factor on whether people will take action or leave it to someone else. This often happens to me in class discussions, when I know that I should contribute but really don't feel like it, and I leave someone else to make a response. Because I know that others will make sufficient and interesting comments, I sometimes stay quiet and listen to others instead of contributing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that diffusion of responsibility is key part of this. An example I can think would involve a coach during practice. The coach told me to cover a certain guy on defense and forget about the play. I knew this was not what I was supposed to do, yet because the coach had the authority and I would be able to blame him if something went wrong I did it. The head coach then got mad at me and asked me what I was doing. I simply said "coach told me to do it", and the head coach seemed to be shocked by my answer and just said "okay"
ReplyDeleteI agree with your article Arden, and also the comments made so far, but I wonder the extent to which a person will follow his or her authority. I think that it is very interesting that we see this experiment and that the teachers would really hurt their students because the authority told them too, and also the Nazis would kill the Jews because that's what their authority told them to do, but if they were the people getting hurt instead of hurting the others, I feel that they would rebel. So what does this mean? Will people only disobey authority when they themselves are the ones getting hurt?
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