Posted Mar 17, 2010, 5:37 PM UTC
FOX News anchors wonder what is wrong with the French.
Maybe we should torture the French to find out.
Why the down-votes. Has reddit really become a sarcasm free zone?
Am I the only one who is suspicious of Milgram-style experiments? I mean, the subjects think it is OK to do because some authority-figure tells them so. And we find this outrageous.
Except the subjects are RIGHT. It is pretty damn unlikely that a TV-show will let you do serious physical harm to another person. And you are pretty safe to play along.
Now I am not saying the subjects reason this way. But it has not been ruled out satisfactorily.
No, the subjects don't think it's ok; in fact many of them were traumatized in the initial experiment, which is why it cannot be reproduced under the same circumstances, ethics board would never allow it.
Oh, OK, thanks. I would love to know if subjects on a TV show are similarly traumatised.
Yeah, quite a few were nervous wrecks at the end. A couple of cried. They didn't air ALL the footage from the "game show" as there were some 80 contestants, that would have taken hours.
Do you have a source of evidence that the subjects of the Milgram experiment were traumatized? I've read that it's just one of those things that people like to believe, but it's not actually true.
I have a soc.psy textbook somewhere that claims as such IIRC, unfortunately I can't seem to find it ATM.
Wikipedia says the participants were mostly happy they participated (the citation they give seems to be follow up work done by Milgram himself). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment#Ethics It's interesting though. From the above link: "The experiments provoked emotional criticism more about the experiment's implications than with experimental ethics."
How cool is that?
In this instance, it was. Each subject was interviewed after the fact. I think it was around 6% that said they didn't believe it could be real and acted rather aloof. As it was explained, it may have simply be a form of denial to make what they were doing OK in their mind. "This is just too insane, it simple can't be happening" type of reasoning. They showed a lot of stress during the experiment which might suggest it would simply be a method of coping with a moral dilemma they can't solve on their own.
All the other subject didn't mention any disbelief that what they were doing was actually happening.
Thank you, I stand corrected.
I guess they never considered the fact that the Milgram Experiments originated in the UNITED STATES! Hurp de dur de durpity dur.
fucking retards.
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I actually saw footage from the French experiment as they made a documentary around this whole thing which aired tonight. I see how it would seem silly and flawed when you're simply told "the French replicated Milgram's experiment but in the form of a game show."
Milgram's experiment already was seeking to establish what level of obedience you could get from any on individual when you present yourself as an respectable and trustworthy figure of authority. What they were trying to establish here was whether television had this kind of power of any one individual. Whether or not one day things could escalate so far (and as the documentary pointed out in its introduction, we've really pushed decency on television to its edge, some game shows flat-out torture their contestants) that we could one day witness an execution on-screen.
Everything was very carefully designed by psychologists. Throughout the documentary, they also break down what you're seeing of the game show footage to elucidate the contestants' behaviours, which was very interesting and incredibly frightening. Anyway, it was hosted by a lady who was in this context the authority figure. The person received the electroshocks (and actor who obviously was not being shocked) was, after being introduced to the subjects as another contestant, was contained in an isolated room the subjects could not see. They had no direct contact after the game had started. The subjects ask the other contestant a question, if he responds badly he is "punished: by receiving increasing electric shocks. The subject would ask a question through the microphone to the other contestant, once the question was asked they could cut out the microphones. Once the shock was administered, the subjects can hear the other contestant's reaction which goes from mild amusement to deep anguish as the shocks get harder (all recordings). As far as the subjects are concerned, this is real. The shocks go from 20V to, I believe, 480V towards the end with the other contestants being completely silent for the last 3 questions.
The only addition that was made was that of an audience, which was only used to set up the ambiance and used as a tool to dissuade the subjects from ending the experiment, to push them on, and then again, as a last resort. Being on camera, of course, was an added form of pressure, an authority of its own (the whole purpose of this entire thing.)
I recall a certain percentage of psychiatrists predicting that only 1% of the participants in Milgram's experiment would follow through with shocks.
Further proof that Fox news anchors are morons?
Reading your title, I initially thought the inclusion of Fox anchors was hyperbole.
The fact that it really happened, apparently with an utter lack of self-awareness... wow.
Why is this so novel? I can remember all sorts of TV sitcoms spoofing the Milgram experiment. I would imagine plenty of people have seen a TV portrayal of the Milgram Experiment even if they don't know what it was called or the implications it had on people obeying authority figures.
Burn Baby Burn ~!
What were they thinking is the first thing that lept into my thoughts.
This is actually the main goal of most TV and Video game programming these days. Everything is geared towards learning how to dehumanize people to support the concepts of killing and torture.
Your little Gears of War appeals to you - not only because you are a "lowest common denominator" style person (although thats a big reason), but because you have been programmed your whole life to see shootouts and killings as forms of entertainment.
Meanwhile you are similarly programmed to view wholesome things as unattractive (getting married, having kids, etc). Hmmm...I wonder why the global elite like to push this mentality?
Downvoted for terrible pop-over ad that wouldn't go away. No close button at all. Wouldn't even go away after I clicked it and closed the new tab.
And as a side note: I figure if you want to do a terrible psych experiment that no IRB in its right mind would approve - just make it into a TV show. The types of things that happen on, say, Fear Factor or Survivor would be entirely unethical in just about any other context. But hey, they signed up for it!