The original Milgram experiments investigating obedience to authority used a simple experimental design and placed one of two subjects in the role of a "teacher" and the other was the designated 'Student'. The subjects were informed that the experiment is on memory and learning and on the effects of punishment on these. The 'student' is then put in another room strapped to a chair and explained that he needs to learn word pairs. E.g. When initially presented with 'Butter - Bread' he needs to be able to respond with Bread when the 'Teacher' presents the cue Butter. If he failed to recall the correct second portion of the presented word-pair, he would be administered an electric shock. What is noteworthy is that the 'Student' is actually an actor and receives no real shocks. The subject in the role of the teacher however, does not know this and is expected to operate a panel delivering shocks of varying intensities going right up until a fatal Voltage on the insistence of the experimenter whenever the student is wrong. How far is too far?
Surprisingly (contrary to the consensus that Milgram himself obtained from a range of individuals including Psychiatrists, general educational community etc.) more than 60% of the subjects were willing to go to the absolute limit of the shock spectrum administering almost 450 Volts at times to the 'students'. This was despite the full realisation of the discomfort being voiced by the actors in the other room who in some cases pleaded to be set free and demanded to be released from the experiment.
What is interesting to note is that while a few subjects refused to carry on, a majority were quite compliant to the demands of the experimenter and pulsed lethal dosages of electric current to strangers! The moral compass, it seemed, collapsed when faced with an authoritative figure. This platform is inadequate for discussing the ethical, moral and legal ramifications of this experiment. Needless to say, the French TV show has brought these issues in the forefront again. Another quite similar offspring of this fascination of Media with Psychology was the Oliver Hirschbiegel movie Das Experiment (German, 2001) which tackled issues of authority and role playing gone wrong.
Milgram experiments of the 21st CenturyTry approaching a Grant awarding body with a proposal of replicating Milgram experiments! Understandably the entire issue is laden with too valid an argument against carrying out experiments that knowingly put people in extremely distressing situations and are designed on deception. However, compliance, obedience, authority and personality characteristics that make some people more vulnerable to these than others is a valuable field of research and it would be a shame not to explore it further.
In comes immersive virtual reality.
Slater et al (2006) carried out the original Milgram experiments but replaced the 'students' with a virtual female human being on a computer. The cyber victim protested with genuine discomfort and demands for experiment termination as the original Milgram actors. The researchers concluded that "in spite of the fact that all participants knew for sure that neither the stranger nor the shocks were real, the participants who saw and heard her tended to respond to the situation at the subjective, behavioural and physiological levels as if it were real."
Read More
1. Milgram S. Obedience to Authority: McGraw-Hill; 1974
2. Slater M., Antley A., Davison A., Swapp D., Guger C., Barker C., Pistrang N., Sanchez-Vives M. V. (2006. ). A virtual reprise of the Stanley Milgram obedience experiments. PLoS ONE 1, e39.
3. Telegraph Story on the French Game show, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7457780/French-contestants-torture-each-other-on-TV-Game-of-Death.html
1 comment:
thanks for the interesting info.... makes an enjoyable and intelligent reading. Please keep posting such stories.
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