Sorry about posting this late!
Tell me what you think Milgram's experiment tell us about human nature. Do you accept his conclusion that American society does not insulate us from committing terrible acts of atrocity if an evil person knows what buttons to push? In other words, are we so obedient that we are capable of hurting innocent people if commanded to do so?
Please post a response by Wednesday, February 4.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I feel it depends on the kind of personality that person has. For example someone who is very obedient and always does what they are told would probably do as they are commanded. Some other people may be rebellious and no matter what they are told will stop when they feel is right to stop. Some may continue just to see what the outcome of the experiement brings because they are curious and curious about themselve in a sense to see how far they would go.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
ReplyDeleteI believe as a whole our society is obedient, however, I was very surprised with the results that he received with his experiment. Personally I would've foreseen that many people wouldn't go to the extreme shocks. If their life was in jeopardy I would think that they would shock someone else but just for an experiment I do not believe that I would shock someone to the higher levels. My point of view is that the human race is selfish and we are brought up to be selfish and to think of ourselves first. Therefore I think that the "teacher" would think what is in it for me? If they were told they had to shock someone to stay alive everyone would shock the "student" in a heartbeat. I may disagree with his results because I don't want to believe that our society is obedient because that means someone could so something horrible if they were asked nicely. As a teenager I love to think that I am a rebel and can go against my parents because that would prove in some way that I am independent. If our society is obedient then who are the leaders? Who is telling everyone what to do? If there is one person or a group of people deciding how other people will act then our society would be very easy to corrupt. Looking at the results I can see how we could be seen as an obedient society. On the other hand, taking from my experiences and knowledge of my environment around me I believe that we are obedient to a point. The things we obey are, in some way, something we want to do ourselves. For example we are told to go to school, but I think deep down we all want to get an education and be successful. Also I think we listen to our parents and teachers because we have respect for them and we have been brought up to respect our elders. Basically I can see both sides of the argument but through my senses I feel that as a society we are independent and are rebellious and push the limits.
Milgrams experiment was to show the obedience of people and how far people would go. I agree with Mercia, that most of the time it depends on peoples personality. It was not the choice of the teacher to go on, it was the learner that chose to go as far as they did. If someone really believed that shocking another person until it almost kills them is an alright thing to do seeing that the experiment requests them to go on but they are being obedient. When the person rebels not to go on, it was their instinct to stop at the point that they did. Milgram composed his experiment to many different human beings and he discovered how far a person would go because they are obedient.
ReplyDeleteMilgrams experiment really proved to me that everyone has evil in them no matter how nice they think they are. People are very obediant, especially when they fear for their own life. But in Milgrams experiment, no one feared for their life, yet they still kept on going to 450. This experiment really showed me that no matter where you are from, or how you were raised, anybody is capable of hurting someone else.
ReplyDeleteI agree with lauren that everyone is capable of hurting someone else, however I disagree that the experiment showed that everyone has evil within them. Evil to me is when you take from your own thoughts to hurt someone. For example, if someone was to hook someone up to a shocking device just for giggles then I would call them evil. This experiment to me was showing that we are obedient and can be told to do evil actions not conceive evil thoughts and turn them to actions.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast to what has been stated already, I find it hard to believe that it is societies obedience that is the only factor being measured in Milgram's experiment. It may be true that the subjects were obedient to the teacher's request to continue shocking the actor, however, perhaps it is not their obedience that is in question, but rather their fear of being free thinking outweighs their ambition to do undergo free thought. The subjects in this experiment were unable to break away from the teacher's requests because they feared the capability of their own independent actions and inquiries, for their own power was unknown at the time. These people (as well as members of society today) have been taught to not reject authority figures or their commands. In this case, the experiment proved this to be true because those who were told to go on never questioned the teacher (authority figure) or his/her methodology.
ReplyDeleteI find it very easy to believe that as long as a leader can push the correct buttons and inspire specific emotions of society, they have the ability to make them harm the innocent. One such example, probably the greatest example of all time, is the time of the Holocaust, when Adolf Hitler was able to round up seemingly harmless members of society to rebel against societies ethical values and kill innocent Jewish families, completely setting aside their moral values to do so. For this reason, I feel manipulation of the innocent human mind is possible.
In my opinion, Stanley Milgram's does infact tell us that our society is inherently obedient and will hurt innocent people if instructed to do so. However, myself, as well as the whole class, anticipated that most people would not have gone past 200 and yet 65% of the people (on average) went to the last shock! This experiment not only fooled the minds of myself and my peers but also the "experts" of psychology at the time. In addition, I feel as though this experiment also showed us that obedience is affected by the atmosphere in which the experiment was conducted. When the experiment was conducted in an office building, the results were less obedience, and when the authority figure left the room, the amount of people that followed through with the experiment dropped again. By changing the environment in which the experiment was conducted, I feel as though Milgram proved that our society as a whole is very obedient and people would hurt innocent people if we were told to do so. Although this experiment is unethical and no longer allowed, I think the results of such a test in today's society would be interesting.
ReplyDeletedave
ReplyDeleteI think Milgram's experiment tells us many things about human mature including all people and the way they react to rules. It tells us about the way people act in certain situations like Milgram's voltage experiment. His experiment tells us that ordinary ppl of all sorts of races and diversity are very obedient. I think his conclusion tells us the truth to what extent people will go when following orders. No matter the consequences, most people will follow orders according to the experiment because of the way they are. Also depending on the situtaion, people will change how far they go especially if they know they can back out or disobey. The other thing I think It depends on is the person and the way they were brought up and raised.
I think the Milgram experiment was really cool. It really had the class thinking of how sick people really are, considering we all said we'd stop at 150. It turns out that about 26 people went to 450 which is sick. So i guess it proves that we are obedient and capable of hurting innocent people if we are commanded to. Just take a look at Milgram's results.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed leaning about Milgrams' experiment. It gave me a new perspection on how people truley act, as well as how obidient we are. The amount of people that would shock someone with the highest power was astonishing. At first I felt as if most people were uncapable of hurting innocent people, but after this experement, i feel differently.
ReplyDeleteNick Martel
ReplyDeleteI think that Milgram's expieriment was a good one to see how people would act in a situation like that becuase none of the people knew what was going on. It really made me think of how someone could hurt someone possibly putting their life in danger just because someone told them to. I think that his expieriment was a good one to do at the time but think the results would be different if done today. More people today are sensitive to hurting people accidentally so i dont think it would have the same results
Julie Garneau
ReplyDeleteMiligram’s experiment was very interesting to learn about. The results do in fact show that humans have an obedient nature. If an innocent human is told to do something by someone they believe is an authority figure, they will do it. However, how far will some people go? Is our society so obedient that we will hurt innocent people if we our told to do so? The answer is yes, and this was proved by Miligram’s experiment. The fact that 65% of the people in the experiment administered the highest possible shock to someone just because they were told to shows that we will commit terrible acts of atrocity if pushed. What does this say about our society? As humans can we be manipulated so easily, or are we evil? I agree with Elizabeth as she says people are not evil, but can be told to carry out evil actions.
Talia Turco
ReplyDeleteAs we were learning about Milgram's experiment, I found myself very interested and actually some-what astonished as to how obedient and vicious some people really seem to be. How could someone continue with the shocks when they know that what they are doing is wrong? Is the world really that cruel? All of these questions stormed through my head and still do when I think about this. When the performers were told to continue on with the experiment, they had no hesitation whatsoever. 65% of the people continued to the last shock. Clearly, this shows what great lengths people will go to just because they are told to perform such an act. Whether it is right or wrong doesn't seem to matter. What does matter however is the reason for behaving this way. What makes people continue on, even when they know what they have done was not for the good of someone? I agree with Lauren that evil is inside the lifes of everyone, no matter how nice they may be.
Robert Synosch
ReplyDeleteI agree for the most part with everyone else.
People as a whole tend to lean towards being very obedient and when told to do something by an authority figure they follow what they say because of consequences that could follow.
And what should make us different then any other person, if someone knows how to munipulate someone else someone could do the unthinkable and go to great extents as Hitler did to his soildiers to the Jewish population, pure chaos brought upon no reasoning.
I believe that your level of obedience depends on how you were raised. Milgram performed this experiment to see exactly how obedient random, everyday people are. After seeing the results, I really started to think about how obedient people were and how obedient we all must be today. Everybody follows a "fad" or something that looks cool. And thats an example of how people are obedient and do what other people say is cool or what theyre told or forced to do. If youre raised in a family that just doesnt care about what you do and, or, when you do it...then youll most likely go through life with very little obedience becuase youre so useed to not having to do what people say. But if, for instance, you grow up in a strict family where you were made to do just about everything your parents or authority figures told you, then youd most likely live your life as an obedient person. Personally i tihnk your lifestyle has a lot to do with how obedient you are. Milgrims experiment just proved that people were indeed very obedient.
ReplyDeleteTJ
ReplyDeleteI believe that Milgram's experiment was a success because it shows first hand that people are obediant enough to go that extra length to follow orders. His experiment proves that people obey the laws of society because of basic human instinct. In animal heirachy there are dominant males and there are the "middle class". And in this experiment the lab coat served as a dominat figure while the person with the shocker was considered the "middle class".
I feel that Milgrams experiment does prove that society can do harm to others when told because people were told to continue only once, and pushed it to the limit and went all the way.
ReplyDeleteI was so surprised and disturbed when I read this. As I was reading it I was thinking that the people pressing the buttons delivering the voltages would stop fairly quickly. When I read that not one person stopped till at least 300 volts! After continuing reading and seeing that 26 out of 40 people went all the way to 450 volts I was so puzzled. I couldn’t believe what a little pressure could do. I would have thought many people would have stopped after they heard how much pain the person was in. It seems like no one has compassion. I would like to think if I was in their place I would have stopped as soon as the person asked me to, no matter who said otherwise. I didn’t think humans were that obedient. I would have thought most with a heart would have stopped quickly and have not wanted to harm the person, but I guess I thought wrong.
ReplyDeleteI believe his experement really tested common day human obediance to a mentally higher power, i believe for those who fealt mentally inferiorto the doctor when told to please continue with the experiment followed through because they fealt they must listen to the higher authority. I think this experiment also brought out the true inhumaneness that humans now a days can really express.
ReplyDelete