Tuesday, 19 April 2016

Standford Prison Study and Milgram Experiment


Dear Students, 
You must study the video posted below and answer the corresponding questions in detail. Your answers are due tonight,  Tuesday, April 19, 2016 by 11:59 pm 










1.     Who was Stanly Milgram?

2.     When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?

3.     What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?

4.     What was the set-up and process for the Milgram Experiment?

5.     What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?

1.     What problem does this show about humanity?







14 comments:

  1. Farah D.

    1. Who was Stanly Milgram?
    Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist, known for his experiment on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his teaching years in Yale. Milgram was influenced by the events of the Holocaust, his curiosty on human obedience was what caused him to conduct the "Milgram Experiement"

    2. When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?
    The experiements took place in July, 1961 and was conducted at the Yale Interaction Laboratory

    3. What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?
    The purpose of the Milgram Experiment was to focus upon the on conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience

    4. What was the set-up and process for the Milgram Experiment?
    Milgram chose participants for his experiment by newspaper advertising for male participants to take part in an experiement focusing on memory.
    The participants were going to be partnered up and asked to pick lots, one of them becoming a "teacher" and the other a "learner" ( Bear in mind all the "learners" were Milgram's confederates who had been informed of this experiement and pretending to be a real participant )
    The learner was taken to another room and had electrodes attached to his arm, and the teacher went to the other room which had an electric shock generator and a row of switches marked from 15 volts ( Slight Shock ) to 375 volts ( Danger: Severe Shock ) to 450 volts ( XXX )
    Besides the teacher and learner, there was an "experimenter" dressed in a grey lab coat ( This role was played by an actor, not Milgram )
    The learner was strapped to a chair with electrodes. After he learned a list of words, the teacher was required tests him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its partner/pair from a list of four possible choices.
    The teacher was told to give the learner an electric shock for each mistake, increasing the level of shock each time. There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 (danger – severe shock).
    The learner gave wrong answers (on purpose) and for each of these the teacher was required to give him an electric shock. When the teacher refused to do so, the experimenter simply encourged them to continue

    5. What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?
    65% (two-thirds) of participants continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All the participants continued to 300 volts.
    Milgram did more than one experiment – he carried out 18 variations of his study. All he did was alter the situation to see how this affected obedience

    1. What problem does this show about humanity?
    Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up.
    People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right. This response to legitimate authority is learned in a variety of situations, for example in the family, school and workplace.

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  2. 1. Stanly Milgram was an American social psychologist who is known for the controversial experiment that he conducted on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscious in the 1960s, known as the "Milgram experiment"

    2. The Milgram experiment took place in July 1961 at Yale university.

    3. The purpose of the Milgram experiment was to explain some of the horrors of the Holocaust, particularly those in the concentration camps where millions were slaughtered by the Nazis. It was to understand how people are induced to obey unjust regimes and participate in atrocities such as the Holocaust. Stanley Milgram wanted to see if the Germans were in fact cold-hearted, or if the Holocaust was a group phenomenon that could happen to anyone, given the right conditions. If normal American citizens were to be placed under unjust authority, would they follow as the Germans did or follow their conscious and morals? Milgram wanted to see how normal people would respond in the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscious.

    4. Stanly Milgram created an electric ‘shock generator’ with 30 switches. The switch was marked clearly in 15 volt increments, ranging from 15 to 450 volts. However, the shock generator was not real; it just produced sound when the switches were pressed.
    40 subjects, who were all males, were recruited through mail and newspaper ads. They were told that they would be participating in an experiment about 'memory and learning'.
    When they arrived, the subjects met the 'experimenter' who was the person leading the experiment, and another person who was said to be another subject. However, the other subject was actually a confederate acting as a subject.
    The two subjects drew slips of paper to see who would be the 'teacher' and who would be the 'learner'. This was in fact just a set up, the real subject would always receive the role of 'teacher'. The teacher saw that the learner was strapped to a chair and electrodes were attached. He was then seated in another room in front of the 'shock generator'. After the learner learned a list of words, the teacher was required to test him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its partner/pair from a list of four possible choices. If the learner answered a question incorrectly, the teacher was required to give him an electric shock, increasing the level of shock by 15 volts each time. The learner gave wrong answers on purpose, and the teacher was required to give them a shock. The learners never received the shock, instead a pre-taped audio was triggered every time a shock-switch was pressed.
    When the teachers refused to give the learner a shock, the experimenter told them that they had to and enforced their authority upon them. When the teachers asked who would be responsible if anything would happen to the learner, the experimenter replied 'I am responsible', which put many of the teachers at ease.

    5. The results of the Milgram experiment were: Many subjects showed no signs of tension. Only three subjects had uncontrollable seizures. Although most subjects were uncomfortable doing it, all 40 subjects obeyed up to 300 volts. 25 of the 40 subjects (65%) continued doing it until the maximum level of 450 volts was reached. Even when the learner said he had heart-trouble, none of the subjects would stop giving the shocks.

    6. The problem that this shows about humanity is that we have an innate behaviour that we should do as told, especially from authority persons. Even if said authority orders us to do immoral, unjust acts, we would be fine doing them because of our tendency to obey authority. This is wrong because anyone can make themselves the authority and order us around; they may tell us to do horrible things and because of our nature we would follow their orders, subsequently committing unjust acts that could cause disruption and atrocity like the Holocaust.

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  4. 1. Who was Stanly Milgram?
    Stanly Milgram was a psychologist. He conducted experiments to learn how people respond to authority.
    2. When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?
    The experiment took place in 1961.
    3. What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?
    Milgram Experiment was conducted by Stanly, to learn how humans respond to authority. It demonstrated the dilemma between one's morality and conscience against the order of authority in certain situations. He wanted to see how people would be induced into committing unjust acts like the holocaust.
    4. What was the setup and process for the Milgram Experiment?
    Participants in the Milgram Experiment were told that the experiment would focus on memory. The participants were partnered up and asks pick up a piece of paper. One of them would be a teacher and the other would be a learner. The learners were actually actors, who were pretending to be actual participants.The learner and the teacher were separated by a screen. The learner was attached to a strap. The teacher was asked to ask the learner questions. If the learner would get the answer wrong, they would receive an electric shock from the teacher. The teacher was also instructed to increase the voltage higher each time the answer would be wrong.
    5. What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?
    Every time the learner would get the answer wrong, they would receive an electric shock. The learner refused to continue, but the authority figure tells the teacher to continue. It got to the point that the voltage was fatal to humans. Although the teacher, at first, refused to continue, they were easily persuaded to continue. Even though, the learner was seriously hurt and the teacher was aware of how fatal the voltage is, he still continued.

    6. What problem does this show about humanity?
    The results demonstrated that good or decent humans are capable of committing evil acts, in this case, seriously hurting another person, under the influence of an authority figure. A grown person has the intellect and intelligence to think for themselves and know right from wrong. However, when an figure of authority orders a person to do something, good or bad, the person is convinced to do it.

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  7. 1.Who was Stanley Milgram?

    Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist. He had conducted the Milgram experiment on obedience in the 1960’s while he was teaching at Yale.

    2.When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?

    The experiment took place in 1961, in the basement of Yale University which was set up as a prison.

    3.What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?

    The Milgram Experiment’s purpose was to obey an authority figure who told them to go against their values by doing something that they don’t want to do.

    4.What was the set-up and process for the Milgram Experiment?

    The Milgram experiment had made the teacher to believe that the learner was getting electric shocks, but in reality there were no electric shocks because the learner was just an actor who was provided with a pre-recorded tape recorder with shock sounds for different levels of shocks.

    5.What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?

    The Milgram experiment resulted in many difficulties including people having seizures, digging fingernails into their skin, sweating, as well as 65% percent of the participants submitted to the final shock of 450 volts.

    6.What problem does this show about humanity?

    The Milgram Experiment demonstrates humanity’s fight with doing something that is against their will and seems wrong to them. Humanity doesn’t do whatever is against their will because they have the fear in them that tells them that they will change in one way. Humanity understands that as soon as they change, they will have no way to get back to who they actually were in the start.

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  8. 1.Who was Stanley Milgram?
    Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist, he was best known for his experiment on obedience conducted in the 1960's during his time in Yale.
    2.When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?
    The Milgram experiment took place in July 1961 and was conducted at Yale University.
    3.What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?
    The pupose of this experiment was to see how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person.
    4.What was the set-up and process for the Milgram Experiment?
    At the beginning of the experiment they were introduced to another participant, who was actually a Confederate of Stanley. They drew straws to determine their roles – learner or teacher – although this was fixed and the Confederate was always the learner. There was also an “experimenter” dressed in a grey lab coat, played by an actor.
    Two rooms in the Yale Interaction Laboratory were used - one for the learner (with an electric chair) and another for the teacher and experimenter with an electric shock generator.
    The “learner” was strapped to a chair with electrodes. After he has learned a list of word pairs given him to learn, the "teacher" tests him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its partner/pair from a list of four possible choices.
    The teacher is told to administer an electric shock every time the learner makes a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time. There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 (danger – severe shock).
    The learner gave the wrong answers on purpose and for each of these the teacher gave him an electric shock. When the teacher refused to administer a shock the experimenter was to give a series of orders / prods to ensure they continued.
    There were 4 prods and if one was not obeyed then the experimenter read out the next prod, and so on.
    Prod 1: please continue.
    Prod 2: the experiment requires you to continue.
    Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue.
    Prod 4: you have no other choice but to continue.
    If the subject still wished to stop after all four successive verbal prods, the experiment was halted. Otherwise, it was halted after the subject had given the maximum 450-volt shock three times in succession
    5.What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?
    The results of the experiment was that 65% (two-thirds) of participants (the teachers) continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All the participants continued to 300 volts
    Stanley did more than one experiment, he carried out 18 variations of his study. All he did was alter the situation to see how this affected obedience
    6.What problem does this show about humanity?
    Normal individuals are prone to take after requests given by an authority figure, even to the extent of executing a honest person. Compliance to power is ingrained in all of us from the way we are raised.
    Individuals have a tendency to obey orders from other individuals on the off chance that they perceive their power as morally right and / or legally based.. This response to legitimate authority is found out in a variety of circumstances, for instance in the family, school and working environment.
    -Malaikaaa

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  10. 1.Who was Stanly Milgram?
    Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist, best known for his controversial experiment on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale.

    2.When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?
    The experiments began in July 1961 at Yale University.

    3.What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?
    Milgram (1963) was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. Stanley Milgram was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities.

    4.What was the set-up and process for the Milgram Experiment?
    Milgram selected participants for his experiment by newspaper advertising for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale University. The procedure was that the participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the ‘learner’ and who would be the ‘teacher’. The draw was fixed so that the participant was always the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederates.
    The learner was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arms, and the teacher and researcher went into a room next door that contained an electric shock generator and a row of switches marked from 15 volts (Slight Shock) to 375 volts (Danger: Severe Shock) to 450 volts (XXX).

    5.What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?
    65% (two-thirds) of participants (i.e. teachers) continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All the participants continued to 300 volts.
    Milgram did more than one experiment – he carried out 18 variations of his study. All he did was alter the situation (IV) to see how this affected obedience (DV).

    6.What problem does this show about humanity?
    This shows that humans obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right and / or legally based.
    - Laiba Syed

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  11. 1.Who was Stanley Milgram?
    Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist, he was best known for his experiment on obedience conducted in the 1960's during his time in Yale

    2.When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?
    The experiments began in July 1961 at Yale University.

    3.The purpose of the Milligram Experiment was to see how people would respond to authority. He was conducting this experiment to relate it to the holocaust. He wanted to see if the Germans were really obedient towards authority figures, as an explanation of the Nazis killings. He wanted to see if the Nazis were just following orders.

    4. What was the setup and process for the Milgram Experiment?
    Participants in the Milgram Experiment were told that the experiment would focus on memory. The participants were partnered up and asks pick up a piece of paper. One of them would be a teacher and the other would be a learner. The learners were actually actors, who were pretending to be actual participants.The learner and the teacher were separated by a screen. The learner was attached to a strap. The teacher was asked to ask the learner questions. If the learner would get the answer wrong, they would receive an electric shock from the teacher. The teacher was also instructed to increase the voltage higher each time the answer would be wrong.

    5. What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?
    Every time the learner would get the answer wrong, they would receive an electric shock. The learner refused to continue, but the authority figure tells the teacher to continue. It got to the point that the voltage was fatal to humans. Although the teacher, at first, refused to continue, they were easily persuaded to continue. Even though, the learner was seriously hurt and the teacher was aware of how fatal the voltage is, he still continued.

    6.What problem does this show about humanity?
    Normal individuals are prone to take after requests given by an authority figure, even to the extent of executing a honest person. Compliance to power is ingrained in all of us from the way we are raised.
    Individuals have a tendency to obey orders from other individuals on the off chance that they perceive their power as morally right and / or legally based.. This response to legitimate authority is found out in a variety of circumstances, for instance in the family, school and working environment.

    -Isha Azeem

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  13. 1. Who was Stanly Milgram?
    Stanly Milgram is an american social psychologist, who was known for his controversial experiment which was conducted in the year 1960.

    2. When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?
    The Milgram’s experiment took place in the year 1961 and It was at Yale university.

    3. What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?
    Milgram wanted to know if people were particularly obedient to authority

    4. What was the set-up and process for the Milgram Experiment?
    Milgram selected participants for his experiment br newspaper advertising for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale University. The procedure was that the participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the learner and who would be the teacher. The draw was fixed so that the participant was always
    The teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederates. The learner was taken to a room and had electrodes attached to his arms and the teacher and researcher went into a room next door so the machine can tell who’s a learner and who’s a teacher.


    5. What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?
    During the Stanley Milgram Experiment, many subjects showed signs of tension. 3 subjects had “full-blown, uncontrollable seizures”.Although most subjects were uncomfortable doing it, all 40 subjects obeyed up to 300 volts. 25 out of the 40 subjects continued to complete to give shocks until the maximum level of 450 volts was reached.
    1. What problem does this show about humanity?
    This shows that people listen to others and do what they tell them to do which is wrong the person can also tell you things that are bad to do and you will do it anyone can boss us around and tell us wrong things to do but we shouldn’t listen to them.

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  14. 1. Who was Stanly Milgram?
    Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist, best known for his controversial experiment on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale

    2.When and where did the Milgram Experiment take place?
    The Milgram experiment was taken place at Yale Interaction Laboratory Interaction on July 1961 by Stanely Milgram. Milgram first described his research in 1963 in an article published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, and later discussed his findings in greater depth in his 1974 book, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View

    3.What was the purpose of the Milgram Experiment?
    The purpose of the experiment was how people respond to people in authority. Relating to the holocaust and if Germans were really obedient to the people in authority. Explanation of the Nazi's and how they follow orders. The purpose was to understand the development of norms and the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated prison environment.

    4.What was the set-up and process for the Milgram Experiment?
    From more than 75 people who responded to the ad, 24 students were chosen: 12 to role play prisoners (9 plus 3 alternates) and 12 to role play guards (also 9 plus 3 alternates). These students had no prior record of criminal arrests, medical conditions, or psychological disorders.The assignment was done randomly, as with the toss of a coin, to make sure that the prisoners and guards were comparable to each other at the beginning of the experiment.

    5.What were the results of the Milgram Experiment?
    There were many results, but perhaps the most important was simply this: The simulation became so real, and the guards became so abusive, that the experiment had to be shut down after only 6 days rather than the two weeks planned.

    6. This shows that the humanity is lost people do whatever they want without even thinking of what they are doing is morally correct or not. People follow orders from people in authority to the point that an innocent human's life is taken away.

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