Friday, January 6, 2012

Welcome to English 1010!

Here is the link to the article on the Milgram Experiment. Let me know if you have any trouble accessing it. What did you think about this experiment? Was it unethical? Was it interesting/scary/shocking? What questions came to mind as you were reading it?

22 comments:

  1. Here is a question that came to my mind as I was thinking about the experiment: Was the learner in the experiment (the actor) a man or a woman? If it was a woman, would the teacher have been less inclined to shock the learner as the concept of chivalry now comes into conflict with obedience?
    It will be interesting to me to do further research into the experiment and find out the gender of the learner to see if that had any play in the outcome.

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    1. Hmmm that's actually a really good question! I never would have thought about that. In the experiment the actors were all men but I bet they wouldn't have shocked as much if it had been a woman. Very interesting.

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  2. That is a really interesting thought, Cami--in the original experiments at least, I know the "learner" was a man. But I think you're right--the results might have changed drastically if the "learner" had been a woman, a child, or even an individual of a particular nationality or ethnicity. I'd like to ask this in class on Monday and see what everyone thinks.

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  3. roman v
    I thought The Milgram Experiment was a real eye opener. I dont thik that this experiment was unethical because it just showed the people in the experiment their true colors. That being said I do not think that people are typically bad people its just how they respond to obedience.

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  4. Kaitlyn Carlson
    The Milgram experiment was very interesting. It was cool to see how the people reacted to obedience in this situation. It makes you wonder what you would do if it were you in this experiment. How would we react to this type of obedience? Would we keep going on with the experiment or would we opt out when it got to far?

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    1. I like to think I would opt out. This article did make me think deeply about my own reactions to situations.

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  5. unethical, because he did not get the reaction he was expecting because if you shock someone it would be severe. but the experiment was not hooked up some reaction was not as dramatic from the actor and the person shocking the actor.also i did think this was an interesting reading because i made me notice how far people would go to obey.

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    1. In This experiment what motivated him to do something like this? What was his goal?

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    2. I honestly think the main motivator behind a lot of notable experiences like this one is simply curiosity. When a group of highly educated people get together their minds get going on all kinds of crazy things. I can just imagine the conversation Milgram was having with his buddies when he started thinking about all of this. Obviously it had psychological relevance but I feel like a large part of his decision making was to satisfy the "what if" function in his mind

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    3. I know they gathered all kinds of scientific data because of this experiment, but my question is, Did they accomplish their main goals? And if not what is the main lesson these guys learned from their research?

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  6. Kaityln Carlson
    Many say this experiment was unethical, but I dont think it was. It did not hurt anyone and it was all to see how people would obey to authority in a pressure situation.Does any one think it this experiment was wrong?

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    1. The arguements that i have found was that it was unethical because it placed the participants in a state of extreme stress and duress.

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  7. Kaitlyn Carlson
    If the Milgram experiment or a simular experiment was done today, whould the outcome be the same? Would people be more or less likely to obey or disobey?

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    1. They've done multiple redos of this experiment, some within the last decade and the results were very similar. Many people still sent shocks that could potentially kill

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  8. Robert K.
    I thought that the Milgram experiment was very interesting and fun to learn about

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  9. Never once did I think this was unethical. He was testing someones obedience, and in this test no one got hurt or had any serious problems. The experiment was great and in my opinion was a perfect experiment to test someones obedience.

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  10. roman v
    why do you think the milgram experiment was so contreversial honestly to me i dont he did anything wrong?!

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    1. I think it was mostly just the fact that these people were allegedly really mentally distraught for a long long time. It would be a hard realization to come to realizing that you would go as far as to kill somebody just because someone told you to.

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  11. How do you all think YOU would have responded in the Milgrim Study? Do you think you would have stood up to the teachers and told them no??

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    1. i think i would have stood up just because i would have been afraid to kill some let alone critically hurt someone.

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  12. The Milgram experiment was a test that was conducted to test the human conscience when under the duress of peer pressure.

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  13. I have seen this before in my psychology class and like i observed before, is that the experiment is to see how far the person is willing to go just by following orders from a man wearing a lab coat. i personally don't think i could participate in knowingly hurting a stranger physically for the means of scientific experiments... but what i want to know is, if the man giving orders was dressed the same as the people in the experiment, do you think they would have cooperated as well as they did?

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