I love psychological experiments!
I. In last week's journal I said that I wanted to know some more statistics from the Milgram and Solomon Asch experiments. I couldn't really find any good statistical results, but here's what I found:
RESULTS
-Before conducting the experiment, Milgram polled fourteen Yale University senior-year psychology majors to predict the behavior of 100 hypothetical teachers. All of the poll respondents believed that only a very small fraction of teachers (the range was from zero to 3 out of 100, with an average of 1.2) would be prepared to inflict the maximum voltage. Milgram also informally polled his colleagues and found that they, too, believed very few subjects would progress beyond a very strong shock.[1]-In Milgram's first set of experiments, 65 percent (26 of 40)[1] of experiment participants administered the experiment's final massive 450-volt shock, though many were very uncomfortable doing so; at some point, every participant paused and questioned the experiment, some said they would refund the money they were paid for participating in the experiment.
Milgram experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment#Results
-Variations of the basic paradigm tested how many confederates were necessary to induce conformity, examining the influence of just 1 confederate and as many as 15 confederates. Results indicate that 1 confederate has virtually no influence and 2 confederates have only a small influence. When 3 or more confederates are present, the tendency to conform is relatively stable.
-The unanimity of the confederates has also been varied. When the confederates are not unanimous in their judgment, even if only 1 confederate voices a different opinion, participants are much more likely to resist the urge to conform than when the confederates all agree. This finding illuminates the power that even a small dissenting minority can have. Interestingly, this finding holds whether or not the dissenting confederate gives the correct answer. As long as the dissenting confederate gives an answer that is different from the majority, participants are more likely to give the correct answer.
Asch conformity experiments - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments#Results
II. This week in class we continued to look into more psychological experiments. We finished up our studies of the Milgram and Solomon Asch experiments. We also got introduced to some new studies like the Standord Prison Experiment. We also watched a TED Talk featuring Philip Zimbardo, the man who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment. He talked about the definition of evil, how psychologists understand the transformation toward evil, seven social processes that grease the slippery slope of evil, heorism, heroes-in-waiting, and the power that situations have. We watched a brief clip on Wesley Autry, a man who saved a random stranger from being run over by a subway. We also studied the man who put an end to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal after he recieved the photographs showing what was happening (I can't remember his name). We concluded the week talking about Zimbardo's ideas regarding heroism, and answered questions to the Heroic Imagination Project.
[ wu :: psychology(compliance) ]. (n.d.). Open Computing Facility at University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/psychology/compliance.shtml
Personally I think this week was extremely interesting because psychology is what I want to major in when I go to college. I think the study of human behavior is fascinating. Each one of these experiments and philosophies that psychologists have regarding the way people behave are so cool. All kinds of new ideas are being brought to the table as we watch videos and read what doctors have to say. I'm really intirgued and I start to place myself in these situations and think about what kind of reaction I would have. I like to think i'd be different, that I wouldn't achieve the results that most people do. I can't ever seen myself purposefully inflicting pain on another human being, no matter who told me to. I also can't see myself allowing a child to get kidnapped right before my eyes without trying to help.
Wesley Autrey. (n.d.). World News. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://wn.com/Wesley_Autrey
The idea that I want to bring to the table with this week's discussion is this: Why is it that people feel like they can't all be heroes? We mentioned in class that society sees "heroes" as being these people with supernatural qualities that they don't possess. In the video where the Bystander Effect was investigated, only one of the passersby was actually interviewed. I want to know why the rest of the people felt that they didn't need to help with the situation. Really? Is that what society has come to? I used to be fearless when it came to walking around anywhere by myself. Now I'm seriously reconsidering how relaxed I am about being by myself in public as a child. That's extremely dangerous! Who would have thought that you can't count on the people around you to watch your back. That's rather pathetic.
III. For next week's blog I want to know more about the Wesley Autry subway story. We didn't investigate it too much in class but i'm extremely curious about the whole situation. I want to research and report back with new information about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment