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December 24, 2008
Re-staged Milgram study suggests people may still be willing to inflict pain on others
On its website, BBC News (12/19) reported that, according to a study published in the Jan. issue of American Psychologist, "scientists have found test subjects are still willing to inflict pain on others -- if told to by an authority figure."
For the study, researchers from Santa Clara University "repeated the famous 'Milgram test,' with volunteers told to deliver electrical shocks to another volunteer" who was "played by an actor." The investigators found that, "even after faked screams of pain, 70 percent" of the participants "were prepared to increase the voltage." The results "may help explain why apparently ordinary people can commit atrocities."
Delving into the study's methodology, Time (12/19, Altman) pointed out that 70 percent of the "29 men and 41 women" who took part in the experiments were "willing to proceed past the maximum 150-volt jolt level; in the corresponding Milgram experiment, 83 percent continued." In the current study, investigators "found no evidence for gender differences in obedience," nor could "'a lack of empathy' explain the high obedience rates in Milgram's studies. Rather, the results" indicate "the power of situational variables to overcome feelings of reluctance in this situation."
The "takeaway" lesson is that "humanity's threshold for cruelty is, like everything else, situational." Humans "seem wired to follow orders, even when they're harmful to others," the authors suggested. CNN (12/19) also covered the story.
Posted by admin at December 24, 2008 12:52 AM