The Milgram Experiment

[Raeyok]

Stanley Milgram was an American psychologist most notable for his controversial study known as the Milgram Experiment. The study was conducted in the 1960s during Milgram's professorship at Yale. Milgram was influenced by the events of the national socialist Holocaust to carry out an experiment that would demonstrate the relationship between obedience and authority. Shortly after the obedience experiment, Milgram conducted the small-world experiment (the source of the six degrees of separation concept) while at Harvard.

We've recently been discussing ethics and the concepts involved in my Theory of Knowledge class and I thought I'd share this with you. You can read more about the Milgram Experiment here.

Discuss ethics, and more specifically, the Milgram Experiment. What do you guys think constitutes ethical behavior, and why are we so subject to obeying authority even in the most extreme or bizarre situations?

(Note: I do not want this to turn into any sort of flame war/unintelligent bullstuffting. If you guys can't keep your bickering out of the topic I'll just lock it. I'd like to have an intelligent, level-headed discussion; if you can't respect that then please leave now.)

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[Raeyok]

Bump.

[Raeyok]

seriously guys

[carolcat]

Sounds interesting, I'll be sure to read through it later today :D

[Decepticon]

Too much words. :c

[Blastdown]

This is seriously something I am unable to conversate about.

[Doomonkey]

Neat.

[Raeyok]

This is seriously something I am unable to conversate about.

For what reason(s)?

[Blastdown]

For what reason(s)?

I just can't think of what to say about it all.
Either I'm drawing a blank or my mind is shorting out.

[Tingalz]

morels:
if thers a bad guy kil him and u wil b a good buy

[King Leo]

You want us to use our brains? Wait a sec, I just have to plug it back in (safety feature against all the trolls)

Ontopic: That's one scary experiment. Makes you think about society more critically. I mean, throughout our entire lives, there will always be authority figures we have to obey. First are our parents, then there are teachers, society etc..
Why learn to do whatever they say, simply "because they say it". Kinda odd, isn't it?

But on the other hand, strong authority figures are needed in a society to hold everything together. Perfect democracy, or even Marxism will never be possible. If mankind did not gather around some sort of leader, we would probably still be in the stone age. We need to have someone who can decide what's best for the people in general (Machiavelli, anyone?)

The question Milram asks, is how much power those leaders should get, and when we should start to protest against them.  

[Butler]

This is seriously something I am unable to conversate about.

grammar. GRAMMAR. FIX YOUR GRAMMAR

CONVERSE

NOT CONVERSATE.

brother ima gun fin u. then ima wup u 1

[Raeyok]

You want us to use our brains? Wait a sec, I just have to plug it back in (safety feature against all the trolls)

Ontopic: That's one scary experiment. Makes you think about society more critically. I mean, throughout our entire lives, there will always be authority figures we have to obey. First are our parents, then there are teachers, society etc..
Why learn to do whatever they say, simply "because they say it". Kinda odd, isn't it?

But on the other hand, strong authority figures are needed in a society to hold everything together. Perfect democracy, or even Marxism will never be possible. If mankind did not gather around some sort of leader, we would probably still be in the stone age. We need to have someone who can decide what's best for the people in general (Machiavelli, anyone?)

The question Milram asks, is how much power those leaders should get, and when we should start to protest against them.  

Right, so where do we draw the line between independent thought and dependent thought? If we are told to do everything, then we wouldn't be able to think for ourselves. But when we can make our own decisions, why is it that we don't when told to follow the instruction of an authority figure? Is it because we then know that, despite the outcome, we will not be responsible for it? That was another major contributing factor in Milgram's experiments, that the "people in lab coats" told the test subjects administering the shocks that they (the subjects) would not be held accountable for any harm done to the person answering the questions.

[King Leo]

why is it that we don't when told to follow the instruction of an authority figure? Is it because we then know that, despite the outcome, we will not be responsible for it?

Very good question indeed. It's always easy to hide behind some greater authority. Take the german holocaust for example. Many of the guards in the concentration camps told that they felt like they didn't have a choice. They just followed orders. So since it wasnt their idea, they couldn't be held responsible (or so they thought)

But we must remember that, after all, the rulers have got their power from the people (fundamental principle of democracy) We are partially responsible for whatever our leaders do. We are even bound by law to get rid of our rulers if their actions are colliding with our moral views. (I think that was John Locke)

So basically, hiding behind authorities isn't possible, because they represent our own views. When people still do things they don't mean are morally acceptable, just because some leader says it, the reason is either laziness or fear.
Laziness because you just do things like they've always been, and you don't want to start a "revolution". Fear because you are afraid that not doing what they say while get you punished.

[Raeyok]

So basically, hiding behind authorities isn't possible, because they represent our own views.

Yeah, especially since, if you commit a crime "because someone told you to," and say just that in court, you'll still go to jail. Even if someone tells you to do something, you have the willpower to say no. Personally, I think Milgram, behind the façade of his experiment, was perhaps trying to find some hope in people that they're not just mindless sheep. But in trying to prove that very concept, he actually proved just the opposite; that us humans, living in the society we have, are told to respect and obey authority throughout our entire lives. The fact remains though, that some of us have learned - or have attained the will - to say no to authority, especially when it is telling us to do something we know is morally wrong. But then that, of course, brings up the subject of morals and moral beliefs.