Poll: You're in the Milgram Experiment!

[Mr Pantomime]

Personally, I dont like being ordered to do things I feel uncomfortable with. So if the experimenter said "you must go on" id tell him to fuck off, more as an affront to him then actually caring about the "learner". Then again, this experiment is meant to create an environment in which you feel pressured to keep going, so who really knows.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Going against our nature is a tough feat, no matter how much of a unique snowflake you think you are, you're still human and as such susceptible to social pressure.

The degree of how susceptible to social pressure someone is, is a subjective matter.

Some are extremely sensitive to social pressure, others don't even care...

 

[rubinigosa]

I don?t know what I would have done in that kind of situation but I hope that I would not keep going but I can?t rely tell because I haven?t experienced it, But I would fell horrible if I would continue pressing the button while herring the ?nice? man scream for mercy.

 

[Arrogancy]

I would totally stop, but that's only because I'm too familiar with this experiment from being a Psych Minor.

I believe that, for the sake of the forum, we are supposed to assume that you have no outside knowledge of the experiment and that we wouldn't figure it out. So, for sake of argument let's say you had no way of knowing that the experiment is a setup. As for me, I would probably do it. I am not a rebel. I submit to authority almost always. I would continue because I couldn't see it and an authoritarian figure was urging me on.

 

[Burningsok]

I've ran this through my head a few times and I can tell you that I probably wouldn't stop. I would stop and question them, but after a few reassurances, I would probably continue. However I don't know how long I would be able to continue even after being reassured.

 

[hey_iknowyou]

I'm going to make a prediction.

The majority of the people in this thread are going to say "no way, I'd totally stop!"

The majority of those people will be wrong.

-m

You could easily be right, it would be interesting (although impossible for several reasons) to carry out an identical experiment today. I would be interested to see if people would be less willing to give in as automatically to an authority figure, on the basis that it is more encouraged in modern times to think for yourself and to challenge ideas and concepts.

Personally, I do believe that the results would still be similar but that idea is something I have thought about since I first read about this experiment. I think it's worth at least some thought, but as I mentioned it would be impossible to carry out based on legal restrictions as well as the famous nature of the experiment rendering it useless as so many people are familiar with it.

 

[Arrogancy]

Comparing the results of the poll (thus far more people believe that they wouldn't go on) I can safely draw the conclusion that people like to believe that they are more independent than they are. One of the biggest flaws in human character is that we are convinced of our own individuality and independence. The average results from the experiment stated that roughly two-thirds of the participants went all the way to the greatest shock. The people who responded yes are more truthful, or at least more aware of their limits, than the others taking part in the poll.

 

[Xanadu84]

This kind of defeats the point of the experiment. The point is that, of course, for the most part, we all think we would stop. But no matter how much we think that, most of us would keep going.

Case in point: I THINK I would stop. But you, as a student of Psychology who has read this study, have no reason to believe me. I, as a student of Psychology, can't help but be suspicious of my own intuition. The only caveat is that if the experiment were recognizable to me, then I may disagree with the experimenter because I know whats going on.

 

[TWRule]

Comparing the results of the poll (thus far more people believe that they wouldn't go on) I can safely draw the conclusion that people like to believe that they are more independent than they are. One of the biggest flaws in human character is that we are convinced of our own individuality and independence. The average results from the experiment stated that roughly two-thirds of the participants went all the way to the greatest shock. The people who responded yes are more truthful, or at least more aware of their limits, than the others taking part in the poll.

Absurd. How can you "safely draw that conclusion"? Two-thirds of a small sample group chose to continue, therefore all of humanity is dependent in nature? You must see the flawed logic there.

And accusing everyone who didn't answer the poll how you think they should have of being either a liar or delusional seems rather obtuse, don't you think?

 

[Rhiehn]

I'd continue, because I know the government wouldn't give someone a grant for a test where a man with heart problems is shocked repeatedly, and because I'm mildly misanthropic, so even if he was really being shocked, I probably wouldn't stop.

 

[Callate]

Almost no one can answer this question accurately. If you're in the Milgram experiment and know you're in the Milgram experiment, the experiment has failed in setting up its parameters properly and in effect isn't the experiment we all know and feel deeply creeped out about with regard to its revelations about the nature of humanity love.

 

[Shannon Matchett]

I'd hold the button down until he stopped screaming.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

The only caveat is that if the experiment were recognizable to me, then I may disagree with the experimenter because I know whats going on.

You don't even have to be familiar with the particular experiment. Being familiar with scientific methods overall would pretty much be sufficient to deduce that there's something iffy about the entire situation...

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

I can't truthfully answer that question. Considering that I already know about the Milgram experiment, it would screw up the results for me. Knowing what the experiment is about invalidates the data collected. This is one of those experiments where the subject shouldn't know what they're being examined for or that they're even a subject. Plus you can't honestly say what you would do in that situation.

 

[Shpongled]

Comparing the results of the poll (thus far more people believe that they wouldn't go on) I can safely draw the conclusion that people like to believe that they are more independent than they are. One of the biggest flaws in human character is that we are convinced of our own individuality and independence. The average results from the experiment stated that roughly two-thirds of the participants went all the way to the greatest shock. The people who responded yes are more truthful, or at least more aware of their limits, than the others taking part in the poll.

Absurd. How can you "safely draw that conclusion"? Two-thirds of a small sample group chose to continue, therefore all of humanity is dependent in nature? You must see the flawed logic there.

And accusing everyone who didn't answer the poll how you think they should have of being either a liar or delusional seems rather obtuse, don't you think?

Repetitions and variations of the study have been conducted hundreds and hundreds of times since, and the results have always been the same, between 60-70% of participants have delivered a lethal voltage. The sample-size is far from small.

He's not accusing anyone of lying, the simple fact of the matter is that although most of us would like to think we'd stop, between 60-70% of people won't in the given situation.

 

[Lolth17]

I would stop and/or not start. I literally can't stand causing pain to people. It's why I have issues with being a bit doormat-ish.

 

[Negatempest]

I'm going to sound anal to some people, but to be honest I don't have enough information to decide whether or not the "experiment" on my end is beneficial in any way. The shocks are for science? How so, I want to know. I "have" to? For what reason do I have to do it? Will my family die if I don't, will friends?

Sure it is a nice experiment and all but I, like others, could tell when we are being manipulated or ****ed with. Life experience and all.

Long answer short, no I wouldn't. But not because I'm being nice or anything. I just don't like to do something that extreme unless there are benefits that overlap it. Like stem cells.

P.S. To the response of "studies". Well studies can always be manipulated. As long as a human is doing the study it CAN be manipulated. Remember the enormous amount of "studies" that prove that people are more likely to be violent towards other people from playing video games?

 

[Spy Killer]

We the whole point of the Milgram experiment was to show how people can "shut off" their reasoning faculties and go on doing something they would otherwise know to be wrong simply because someone told them to. I like to believe that I wouldn't, but you can never know unless you're put in the exact same situation.

Just to point out though, Stanley Milgram deserves a serious *****-slap for doing this experiment. Those that kept going often had nightmares, huge feelings of guilt, and some even got post-traumatic stress disorder. There's no way he wouldn't have known that would happen, being a psychology professor. The test itself was morally wrong in my view.

But they also got twenty greenbacks That makes the guilt and regret for what you have done Very worthwhile...

 

[Daedalus1942]

I've always been of the mind to take another life is the gravest sin (no i'm not religious).
I can't take my own life, let alone someone elses.
If they told me I have no choice and I had to keep going, I would probably break down and beg them to let me stop. Failing that, I would probably lash out at them to try and escape.
I would not be able to live with myself if I took another man's life.
Also I would question them with the logic of "what has taking the life of a man with electricity got to do with science?"
-Tabs<3-

 

[newguy77]

Snip

Not sure if he mentioned this in the OP, but I've heard that all that was said to the participants when they asked to stop was, "We're sorry, but you need to keep going." The point of the experiment, like others have probably said, was to find out if people could be influenced to do horrible things just from being told to by someone who seemed to be in authority, like the Nazi grunts who cremated people because they were told to by their CO's.

OP: I've heard about this experiment three or so times so I'm already out for the experiment. But being blind about the experiment, I probably would.