Now that you have had time to digest Milgram's experiment, tell me what you think his 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?
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I still don't think middle class Americans will hurt innocent people for money or for some other sort of motive. Because if we were, there would be alot of bloody, dead people. We learned today that it was impossible for us to beat Sara up. Even though Mr. Yip who is superior over us had asked us too and even offered up his credit card. We still knew it was wrong to do. Yes this experiment does prove that some people obey and will hurt people, but at the same time I feel like these people did it because they felt it was what they were suppose to do. It was a professor of a college's experiment. Which it was, it doesn't make it right in any way but they knew coming into this what they were being asked to do. I'm not really sure on this one.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.adversity.net/Terms_Definitions/TERMS/Nuremberg_Defense.htm
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me like the Nuremberg trials are a real life situation where these actions took place. Normal people in positions of privilege watched and took part in the torture and deaths of 11 million people. while certainly there were resistors, most merely did as they were told. At the ICC in which they were tried, they pleaded that they "were merely following orders." In a sort of gross, macabre prototypical variant of Milgram's experiment twenty years before hand, the same conclusion was reached. Man has it in him the capacity to kill his brother, with the right stimuli, and sometimes that stimuli is little more than a labcoat telling him to do it. Regarding the "ill give you my credit card if you beat up Sara" statement, it seems to me that that was merely a red herring Mr. Yip used to get us to think about something in a different light. The situation was hypothetical and not real. Were we
a) alone in a room with mr. yip without fear of judgement by our peers
b) made sure that the secret would never escape.
c) delivered the concept in more delicate, professional language.
then im sure alot of us would do it. Stanley Milgram didnt say "shock this random dude for $$$$$$$$$ CASH MONEY $$$$$$$$" . The majority of people would have said no, and even then, some would have said yes, because the person was a volunteer. Many rationalizations could be made about the commitment a volunteer makes, the language in which it was delivered, the audience in front of which the whole shindig took place, et cetera. People can be talked into any, its all about how you sweet talk 'em.
Mitchell Stevens
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing of this experiment, I was a little bit disturbed. This experiment really opens the door to human nature. I don’t believe personally that human nature is evil but also not good. I believe that human nature is neutral and a person themselves decides which path they choose. When people are being told to do something by a authority figure, they tend to follow that person. The only reason they do, is due to the concept learned at childhood, which you need to respect and follow authority figures. Like in the experiment, I bet that more than half of those people wanted to stop after learning that the guy being shocked had heart problems. Although, when the person pushing the button asked to stop, the authority figure told them that they had to keep doing it. Since, at a young age, we learned to trust and respect authority figures, those people thought, might as well listen. They thought that if they asked again, they would receive that same answer. Of course, there are some evil people in this world and some of them might have been doing the experiment. I do believe that we need to teach kids that you have to respect authority figures but you don’t listen to them if they ask for wrong things.
Sara
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Milgram’s experiment proves that many people would, in fact, harm innocent people if commanded to do so. In class we discussed how middle class citizens would not harm another person because we knew that it was inherently wrong. But to go against that point, we are also taught as a society to strictly obey our authorities, we are taught to trust them fully because they are older and “wiser”. However that may not always be the case, it is what we are taught from a very young age. That rule was drilled into our heads constantly, so I would imagine that not obeying someone seen as an authority figure would cause as much a conflict as harming another human being would; both being strongly enforced rules of conduct. It is human nature to follow what we are taught, such as “no hitting, always say please and thank you, share….etc.” Many people said that they would feel badly if they harmed an innocent human being, but perhaps that is just what we are taught to feel, our conscience could just possibly be the way we were taught to react to certain acts and situations. I also believe it is in our nature to be somewhat violent and self centered, so if an authority figure, who we were taught to trust blindly, told us to continue doing the experiment, some of us might, due to our inevitable violent tendencies and the fact that we could not feel the pain ourselves.
Drew
ReplyDeleteI think the Milgram experiment told us that there are a lot of sick people in the world. He went all over doing this experiment and was getting consistent results for every time he did it. I do believe that some people are so obedient that we are capable of doing anything. If they have been brought up to do what authority tells them to it will be in their nature to carry out what the person in authority tells you to do. It shows in the results that most of the people would go to 450 volts when the person was suppose to be non responsive.
This experiment speaks volumes about the average human and the way we work. It just goes to prove that humans are/have become very obedient of any kind of authority, despite whether the act they are committing is right or wrong. I don’t truly believe that the people intended to afflict pain on the ‘student’, but when do you draw the line of following ‘instructions’? It does not take a brilliant individual to realize if someone is suffering/ experiencing pain. You do not need to understand psychology to realize that you are punishing someone innocent. In my opinion, the experiment was a brilliant way to study and analyze human behavior, and to this day it is STILL proving how truly obedient we humans are.
ReplyDeleteThe results of the Milgram experiment tell me that humanity is not as subject to moral idealism as we hope ourselves to be. In america, the land of the free, we believe we are encased in values and social norms that effectively make attrocities such as the holocaust impossible. Unfortunately, we are wrong, the truth is that our morals and social norms do anything but protect us, they enable figures of authority to have great influence over our thoughts and actions.
ReplyDeleteas we noticed in class, you can't pay someone a couple hundred dollars to beat up a freshman in a room full of people in a building with a police officer, at least not when you're so blunt about it. But Hitler didn't start with "let's kill all the jews" it was a slow process of increasing extremism and anti-semitism that desensitized the public to the plight of the jews and other marginalized parties. If a single authority figure with enough power concentrated in them were to attempt to cause a similar desensitization in america, it would work. however, said figure could not start out with "let's commit genocide", they would have to build up to it.
I think the Milgram experiment shows us that people obey orders. When an authority figure gives an order it seems as though people abandon all moral laws and boundaries that people have set up inside themselves. People can say I won't hurt someone intentionally because it's not right. But when an authoritative figure says do it, people throw those things out the window and almost blindly follow orders. I could even tell myself I wouldn't keep shocking them until 450 volts, but then I would be lying to myself. I wouldn't hurt someone intentionally but I wouldn't know how I would react during that situation. Most people in the experiment blindly took commands and followed through, even if they knew they where hurting someone just because some guy in a white coat told them to. I think it sheds the true colors on humanity and the way we respond to orders.
ReplyDeletefrom the day we are born till we die we follow rules or commands as they really are. we are told not to do and what we can do. our jobs are commands that we follow for money. so the experiment was a job for the volunteers, they got money to do what they are told just like a job does. kids are used to watching people suffer either in movies or in video games, kids are exposed to violence every day to the extent that its normal and doesn't faze us. when i would go to portugal my grandmother would kill animals and i witnessed it so much that it doesn't even affect me anymore seeing death or pain. i believe the way people are raised affects the way they make decisions and how the react to experiences.
ReplyDeleteAnthony
ReplyDeleteI think the Milgram experiment proved that humans are wicked obedient and will follow orders, no matter how crazy they are, as we saw in the video in class today. All the scientist had to say was "the experiment requires you to continue, please continue", and the test subjects will continue. Interestingly however, under different, less professional circumstances, the test subjects began to stop administering shocks earlier and earlier. So it proves that people will follow directions from an authoritative figure, even if it sounds crazy
Jessica B.
ReplyDeleteAs humans its in our nature to listen to orders given to us due to the fact that we have grown accustomed to do so as we have grown up. If someone of higher power distributes an order or command we trust them enough to do so just because of the title the person may hold. So it seems likely that Milgrams experiment proved to be true, and like everything else there is a smaller fraction of people who choose to speak up when they feel something isnt right, even differentiating leaders from followers.
As the experiment showed, the majority of people in the experiment followed through with at least part of the exercise. More than expected went all the way to 450 volts. I still don't think that we will hurt people because we're told to do so. Even though that's what the experiment concluded. I guess I don't want to believe that that's the way we are.
ReplyDeleteIn Milgrams experiment I think it shows humans can be very obedient. At a young age we were taught to respect and obey authority
ReplyDeleteso I think in this situation, that's the only reason people kept going until 450 volts. Personally I think this was a good way to see just
how obedient we really are. When Mr. Yip asked us all when we would stop delievering the shocks I told him I would stop right
after 60 volts, but after really thinking about it, I would probably go just until the authority figure told me to stop because of what I was tought at a young age.
-Marissa Nero
Dave T (aka Morgan)
ReplyDeleteThere is a limit to what humans will do when ordered by authority. But the limit is not determined by the moral standing of the person, the cruelty of the action or the situation of the person. A human limit to commit willing ordered evil is determined by the position of authority of the person that giving the command. The higher the respect/awe that the subject has for the authority figure, the greater level of evil they are willing and able to commit. As well respected as he is, I would not kill a man on the orders of Mr. Yip. However, if the President were to present me with a weapon and tell me to go kill a man I believe that I would follow that order without too much in the way of resistance. The reason that the subjects of Milgram's experiments followed the scientist’s orders so blindly was that he (the scientist) was the ultimate authority in the situation. The subject was supposedly in his lab, in his experiment, at his college. He had all the power and knew what was best. And I don’t believe humans have the ability to deny the wishes of the ultimate authority figure.
Miranda W
ReplyDeleteI believe that not everyone would intentionally hurt an innocent person. As it was discussed, somebody in the wrong state of mind has a better chance at doing so. I also believe that it also depends on the person telling someone to do something immoral. I know that if I was in the position of being influnence by a professor, i could easily walk away, where as if it was my mother, I may have a different reaction.
I can't exactly say i have a set opinoin on this topic. This topic is so controversial that it's impossible to decifer right from wrong. Putting myself in the situation that all the volunteer's were put in, it's easy for me to say NOW that i would stop even if all the professor said was "the experiment requires you to go on, please continue." But actually being in the situation, there is a lot more pressure on the spot. My mind is set on the fact that I would stop, even if authority was telling me otherwise. No one can make you do anything you don't want to do. No one would be pushing my hand on the button, it would be all self inflicting. I do agree with Dave, the higher the authority and the more respect a person has for said authority or higher power, the more likely they are willing to obey their commands.
ReplyDeleteThis experiment really was interesting to me. The idea behind it was fascinating. Milgram did prove that in all walks of life/places/backgrounds, people will obey the orders given to them. It shocked me how people would continue upping the voltage when Milgram was a disembodied voice over a loud speaker. Our society is very well programmed into recieving and following through with orders that are givin to them. I do believe however, that this experiment was unethical although it is groundbreaking and still tried all over the world. I would not inflict pain on someone else for an experiment even if it wasn't real. Our society being so obidient to a higher power or someone of a higher authority than us could in fact lead to our downfall.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah...human torture leading to mental instability and such.. anyway, Milgram seems to me like a wolf in sheeps clothing, because, though this experiment (as brilliant as it was) was done in the name of science, i just get that odd feeling that he is really a sadistic psycho, wishing to enslave the human race through cruel mentally handicapping experiments such as this. I do not approve of this experiment, because i feel that it is morally wrong. Psychology is mostly about actions being carried out via brain power. Messing with the way a human thinks is about the worst thing a person can do.
ReplyDeleteThrough this experiment proved the point that humans have very little of their own will power when being directed to do something, i feel that there is a lot of cons that outweigh the pros. Those people must have had some sort of trauma afterwards, and the only one to blame is Milgram. I do not approve!
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