Hello Escapies or Escapists or Escaponites!
I have been meaning to ask this question for quite some time, well basically ever since I finished reading about the Milgram Experiment...
Okay I will give a brief explanation of the Milgram Experiment. The Milgram experiment was devised by Stanley Milgram a psychologist at Yale University in 1961.
Too Long To Read Version: Your in a room with two other people, one is a psychologist sitting in a corner. The other is a nice man who you talk to for a while, this nice man mentions he has a heart problem. The nice man than gives you a small shock through a machine too demonstrate the feeling the nice man would receive later, when you administer it. Now the nice man is sent out of the room and into another room directly in front of yours, you know he is wired up to a machine that you are using, although you cannot see him. The psychologist gestures for you to proceed, so you stat reading out certain word pairs that you are made to read and you also read out 4 possible answers. If the nice man gets an answer wrong you are told to shock him with the machine, now it is wise to note that each shock goes up by 15 volts.
A while later the machine is starting to produce dangerous electrical shocks, shocks with over 400 volts. Now you can hear the nice man screaming and banging his head against the wall, you can hear him crying and begging for mercy, you can hear him wailing the he has a heart problem and he begs you to stop. As you are on the verge of leaving the psychologist tells you too keep going, that it won't be your fault if the man dies, although you don't want to because it is fatally dangerous to the man in the other room, so do you keep going or do you demand to leave?
Unknown to you the nice man in the other room was an actor, he was never being shocked although you thought he was.
Basically here is the question: Would you keep going for science, because the psychologist told you too or for your own reasons? Or would you demand to leave, that this is inhumane, that it is terrible?
Please give me some serious answers, and to anyone willing to wright a detailed comment on exactly how you would react under the circumstances, thank you. This will be quite helpful for me.
PS: This is the wikipage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
EDIT: Before I get another post about it. I know the experiment is about how people respond to authority so don't point it out again, thank you.
I have been meaning to ask this question for quite some time, well basically ever since I finished reading about the Milgram Experiment...
Okay I will give a brief explanation of the Milgram Experiment. The Milgram experiment was devised by Stanley Milgram a psychologist at Yale University in 1961.
The subject was given the title teacher, and the confederate, learner. The participants drew slips of paper to 'determine' their roles. Unknown to them, both slips said "teacher", and the actor claimed to have the slip that read "learner", thus guaranteeing that the participant would always be the "teacher". At this point, the "teacher" and "learner" were separated into different rooms where they could communicate but not see each other. In one version of the experiment, the confederate was sure to mention to the participant that he had a heart condition.[1]
The "teacher" was given an electric shock from the electro-shock generator as a sample of the shock that the "learner" would supposedly receive during the experiment. The "teacher" was then given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. The teacher began by reading the list of word pairs to the learner. The teacher would then read the first word of each pair and read four possible answers. The learner would press a button to indicate his response. If the answer was incorrect, the teacher would administer a shock to the learner, with the voltage increasing in 15-volt increments for each wrong answer. If correct, the teacher would read the next word pair.[1]
The subjects believed that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual shocks. In reality, there were no shocks. After the confederate was separated from the subject, the confederate set up a tape recorder integrated with the electro-shock generator, which played pre-recorded sounds for each shock level. After a number of voltage level increases, the actor started to bang on the wall that separated him from the subject. After several times banging on the wall and complaining about his heart condition, all responses by the learner would cease.[1]
At this point, many people indicated their desire to stop the experiment and check on the learner. Some test subjects paused at 135 volts and began to question the purpose of the experiment. Most continued after being assured that they would not be held responsible. A few subjects began to laugh nervously or exhibit other signs of extreme stress once they heard the screams of pain coming from the learner.[1]
If at any time the subject indicated his desire to halt the experiment, he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter, in this order:[1]
Please continue.
The experiment requires that you continue.
It is absolutely essential that you continue.
You have no other choice, you must go on.
If the subject still wished to stop after all four successive verbal prods, the experiment was halted. Otherwise, it was halted after the subject had given the maximum 450-volt shock three times in succession.
The "teacher" was given an electric shock from the electro-shock generator as a sample of the shock that the "learner" would supposedly receive during the experiment. The "teacher" was then given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. The teacher began by reading the list of word pairs to the learner. The teacher would then read the first word of each pair and read four possible answers. The learner would press a button to indicate his response. If the answer was incorrect, the teacher would administer a shock to the learner, with the voltage increasing in 15-volt increments for each wrong answer. If correct, the teacher would read the next word pair.[1]
The subjects believed that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual shocks. In reality, there were no shocks. After the confederate was separated from the subject, the confederate set up a tape recorder integrated with the electro-shock generator, which played pre-recorded sounds for each shock level. After a number of voltage level increases, the actor started to bang on the wall that separated him from the subject. After several times banging on the wall and complaining about his heart condition, all responses by the learner would cease.[1]
At this point, many people indicated their desire to stop the experiment and check on the learner. Some test subjects paused at 135 volts and began to question the purpose of the experiment. Most continued after being assured that they would not be held responsible. A few subjects began to laugh nervously or exhibit other signs of extreme stress once they heard the screams of pain coming from the learner.[1]
If at any time the subject indicated his desire to halt the experiment, he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter, in this order:[1]
Please continue.
The experiment requires that you continue.
It is absolutely essential that you continue.
You have no other choice, you must go on.
If the subject still wished to stop after all four successive verbal prods, the experiment was halted. Otherwise, it was halted after the subject had given the maximum 450-volt shock three times in succession.
Too Long To Read Version: Your in a room with two other people, one is a psychologist sitting in a corner. The other is a nice man who you talk to for a while, this nice man mentions he has a heart problem. The nice man than gives you a small shock through a machine too demonstrate the feeling the nice man would receive later, when you administer it. Now the nice man is sent out of the room and into another room directly in front of yours, you know he is wired up to a machine that you are using, although you cannot see him. The psychologist gestures for you to proceed, so you stat reading out certain word pairs that you are made to read and you also read out 4 possible answers. If the nice man gets an answer wrong you are told to shock him with the machine, now it is wise to note that each shock goes up by 15 volts.
A while later the machine is starting to produce dangerous electrical shocks, shocks with over 400 volts. Now you can hear the nice man screaming and banging his head against the wall, you can hear him crying and begging for mercy, you can hear him wailing the he has a heart problem and he begs you to stop. As you are on the verge of leaving the psychologist tells you too keep going, that it won't be your fault if the man dies, although you don't want to because it is fatally dangerous to the man in the other room, so do you keep going or do you demand to leave?
Unknown to you the nice man in the other room was an actor, he was never being shocked although you thought he was.
Basically here is the question: Would you keep going for science, because the psychologist told you too or for your own reasons? Or would you demand to leave, that this is inhumane, that it is terrible?
Please give me some serious answers, and to anyone willing to wright a detailed comment on exactly how you would react under the circumstances, thank you. This will be quite helpful for me.
PS: This is the wikipage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
EDIT: Before I get another post about it. I know the experiment is about how people respond to authority so don't point it out again, thank you.
