Dec 21, 2008
Shocking study finds most will torture if ordered
WASHINGTON - SOME things never change.
Scientists said on Friday they had replicated an experiment in which people obediently delivered painful shocks to others if encouraged to do so by authority figures.
Seventy per cent of volunteers continued to administer electrical shocks - or at least they believed they were doing so - even after an actor claimed they were painful, Professor Jerry Burger of Santa Clara University in California found.
'What we found is validation of the same argument - if you put people into certain situations, they will act in surprising, and maybe often even disturbing, ways,' Prof Burger said in a telephone interview. 'This research is still relevant.'
Prof Burger was replicating an experiment published in 1961 by Yale University professor Stanley Milgram, in which volunteers were asked to deliver electric 'shocks' to other people if they answered certain questions incorrectly.
Dr Milgram found that, after hearing an actor cry out in pain at 150 volts, 82.5 per cent of participants continued administering shocks, most to the maximum 450 volts.
The experiment surprised psychologists and no one has has tried to replicate it because of the distress suffered by many of the volunteers who believed they were shocking another person.
'When you hear the man scream and say, 'let me out, I can't stand it', that is the point when the real stress that people criticised Prof Milgram for kicked in,' Prof Burger said.
'It was a very, very, very stressful experience for many of the participants. That is the reason no one can ethically replicate the experiment today.'
'Surprising and disappointing'
Prof Burger modified the experiment, by stopping at the 150 volt point for the 29 men and 41 women in his experiment. He measured how many of his volunteers began to deliver another shock when prompted by the experiment's leader - but instead of letting them do so, stopped them.
In Prof Milgram's original experiment, 150 volts seemed to be the turning point.
In Prof Burger's modified experiment, 70 per cent of the volunteers were willing to give shocks greater than 150 volts.
At one point, researchers brought in a volunteer who knew what was going on and refused to administer shocks beyond 150 volts. Despite the example, 63 per cent of the participants continued administering shocks past 150 volts.
'That was surprising and disappointing,' Prof Burger said.
Prof Burger found no differences among his volunteers, aged 20 to 81, and carefully screened them to be average representatives of the US public.
Prof Burger said the experiment, published in the American Psychologist, can only partly explain the widely reported prisoner abuse at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or events during World War Two.
'Although one must be cautious when making the leap from laboratory studies to complex social behaviours such as genocide, understanding the social psychological factors that contribute to people acting in unexpected and unsettling ways is important,' he wrote.
'It is not that there is something wrong with the people,' Prof Burger said. 'The idea has been somehow there was this characteristic that people had back in the early 1960s that they were somehow more prone to obedience.' -- REUTERS
[Almost 50 years after the original experiments, people has not changed. It is not that people in the 60s were more obedient. Or more backwards. Or more deferrent to authority. It would seem that it is in our nature to obey authority. Would be interesting to see if the rate of compliance applies across cultures and societies, or whether some cultures (like China and Singapore for example) would have higher compliance rates than say, the US.]
Shocking study finds most will torture if ordered
WASHINGTON - SOME things never change.
Scientists said on Friday they had replicated an experiment in which people obediently delivered painful shocks to others if encouraged to do so by authority figures.
Seventy per cent of volunteers continued to administer electrical shocks - or at least they believed they were doing so - even after an actor claimed they were painful, Professor Jerry Burger of Santa Clara University in California found.
'What we found is validation of the same argument - if you put people into certain situations, they will act in surprising, and maybe often even disturbing, ways,' Prof Burger said in a telephone interview. 'This research is still relevant.'
Prof Burger was replicating an experiment published in 1961 by Yale University professor Stanley Milgram, in which volunteers were asked to deliver electric 'shocks' to other people if they answered certain questions incorrectly.
Dr Milgram found that, after hearing an actor cry out in pain at 150 volts, 82.5 per cent of participants continued administering shocks, most to the maximum 450 volts.
The experiment surprised psychologists and no one has has tried to replicate it because of the distress suffered by many of the volunteers who believed they were shocking another person.
'When you hear the man scream and say, 'let me out, I can't stand it', that is the point when the real stress that people criticised Prof Milgram for kicked in,' Prof Burger said.
'It was a very, very, very stressful experience for many of the participants. That is the reason no one can ethically replicate the experiment today.'
'Surprising and disappointing'
Prof Burger modified the experiment, by stopping at the 150 volt point for the 29 men and 41 women in his experiment. He measured how many of his volunteers began to deliver another shock when prompted by the experiment's leader - but instead of letting them do so, stopped them.
In Prof Milgram's original experiment, 150 volts seemed to be the turning point.
In Prof Burger's modified experiment, 70 per cent of the volunteers were willing to give shocks greater than 150 volts.
At one point, researchers brought in a volunteer who knew what was going on and refused to administer shocks beyond 150 volts. Despite the example, 63 per cent of the participants continued administering shocks past 150 volts.
'That was surprising and disappointing,' Prof Burger said.
Prof Burger found no differences among his volunteers, aged 20 to 81, and carefully screened them to be average representatives of the US public.
Prof Burger said the experiment, published in the American Psychologist, can only partly explain the widely reported prisoner abuse at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or events during World War Two.
'Although one must be cautious when making the leap from laboratory studies to complex social behaviours such as genocide, understanding the social psychological factors that contribute to people acting in unexpected and unsettling ways is important,' he wrote.
'It is not that there is something wrong with the people,' Prof Burger said. 'The idea has been somehow there was this characteristic that people had back in the early 1960s that they were somehow more prone to obedience.' -- REUTERS
[Almost 50 years after the original experiments, people has not changed. It is not that people in the 60s were more obedient. Or more backwards. Or more deferrent to authority. It would seem that it is in our nature to obey authority. Would be interesting to see if the rate of compliance applies across cultures and societies, or whether some cultures (like China and Singapore for example) would have higher compliance rates than say, the US.]
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