Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The Lucifer Effect: Milgram's Shock Experiment
In a similar experiment to the original shock experiment, Milgram conducted one that included puppies and student volunteers conditioning the puppy's behavior using electric shocks. The students could clearly see that the puppy was in distress, and some of the females even cried during the experiment. However, seeing that did not stop them from continuing as 54% of the men went all the way to 450 volts, and a shocking 100% of female students went to 450 volts despite their obvious discomfort. While it may seem like these participants are terrible people, they really are just "normal" people with no psychopathic characteristics. Their blind obedience was towards the college professor that ordered them to do such actions. This experiment further proves Zimbardo's theory that "it is difficult for people to appreciate fully the power of situational forces acting on individual behavior when they are viewed outside the behavioral context." Do you agree or disagree?
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I find it odd that these subjects would form such a strong bond with the instructor, enough to even kill, for someone they just met. I understand the blind obedience part, but I don't know how they could have been pressured by one person into doing such a thing, especially when they just met.
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