"Opinions and Social Pressure" by Solomon E. Asch was about a very knowledgeable experiment. It deeply answered the question as to what is more powerful, the the human mind's beliefs or social pressure. Asch put this to test by having a group of volunteers look at some lines on paper and say which one they thought was the longest. However, all but one of the volunteers were told to answer incorrectly to some of them before the experiment. It was then down to the last person to decide whether to say what they thought was right or go with the majority. Most of the time the person went with the majority showing that social pressure usually does override personal opinions.
"The Perils of Obedience" by Stanley Milgram was another knowledgeable experiment that was a lot more schematic. In this experiment, Milgram wanted to test whether or not the typical human would put obedience above their morals. He tested this by having one volunteer as a teacher and the other volunteer as the learner. The teacher would have to teach a word pattern to the learner, who was strapped to chair with electric impulses ready to strike. If the learner answered incorrectly, he would then be zapped and the voltage would increase with each wrong answer. What the teacher did not know, however, is that the learner was actually an actor and their was no electrical shock. The teacher would usually go along with the experiment and whenever one stopped to question the observer, the observer would tell them to continue on. Almost all of the teachers continued on until the end of the experiment, teaching Milgram that obedience does, in fact, usually override the human morals.
I think that the two experiments used in "Opinions and Social Pressure" by Solomon E. Asch and "The Perils of Obedience" by Stanley Milgram were both crazy experiments that I could not have thought of to save my life. However, both were highly effective and they certainly taught me a lesson. They taught me that we, as humans, need to stand up for what we think is right more often, no matter the cost. If that means looking like a fool (with your pants on the ground) by making an observation that everyone else does not agree with, then so be it. If that means disobeying orders from some guy you just met, that for some reason has the urge to shock the crap out of some helpless life form just because they do not know some stupid word pattern, then all the better to you. The fact is that we can not just sit here and let our fellow brothers and sister become stupider by knowing the wrong facts or by having electrical shocks enter their brains.178 If we just sit around and let things occur that we do not think are right, then we should not just stand their and take orders from our peers or our higher rank. If we let this freedom of speech go from our mouths, then we might as well just call up Osama and tell him to take this country because we simply do not want it anymore. Opinions and morals used to soar in this country and I think that this should happen again.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
I still consider this Virtual Class
1. In a way Milgram and Zimbardo were "obeying authority," in that they did what they needed to have a successful experiment. They might have inflicted a short-term mental anguish on their subjects, but by telling the subjects the truth behind the procedure afterwards, they forfeited any uneasiness from the subjects.
2. The "Prisoner's Dilemma" really has a genius premise. It is basically testing how well two separate parties can collaborate with each other. They can either both collaborate, both defect, or one betrays the other. After playing the game myself, I found that I tied with the Serendip. I guess this would mean that we helped each other out in a way, as if there were a clear winner then it would mean that someone was betrayed.
3. I think that having a real arrest take place makes the whole thing seem likely that it is real. However, without great acting of everyone involved, this would be a failed experiment. The "prisoner" would catch on and see that none of this was real by the bad acting alone.
2. The "Prisoner's Dilemma" really has a genius premise. It is basically testing how well two separate parties can collaborate with each other. They can either both collaborate, both defect, or one betrays the other. After playing the game myself, I found that I tied with the Serendip. I guess this would mean that we helped each other out in a way, as if there were a clear winner then it would mean that someone was betrayed.
3. I think that having a real arrest take place makes the whole thing seem likely that it is real. However, without great acting of everyone involved, this would be a failed experiment. The "prisoner" would catch on and see that none of this was real by the bad acting alone.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Massie's blog debut
Opinions and Social Pressure
1. Suggestibility is basically a less extreme version of hypnosis that involves repeating instructions constantly until the instructee feels they must do it. Suggestibility kind of is social pressure because the repetition of instructions makes the person feel pressured into making a decision without thinking for themselves.
2. There is about eight men in a room and they are asked to compare the lines on two large white cards. All but one of these men are asked to miss some questions on purpose. They start out with all of the men agreeing with each other. However, as the experiment continues, all but the one person start missing questions intentionally. The experiment is to see whether or not the subject falls into peer pressure or goes with what he feels is right. The results tend to fall more towards peer pressure than instinct.
3. The more people in opposition, to a certain point, the less the person fell into peer pressure. The change from a unanimous opposition to a few who answered correctly with the subject had a tremendous effect. The subject would generally go against the majority if he had some assistance.
4. Consensus involves everyone thinking for themselves in order to obtain the answer. Conformity is falling under the pressure of the masses no matter how crazy it sounds.
1. I completely agree with Asch when he stated that it is very easy to shape one's opinions or attitudes by social pressure. I see cases all the time where someone knows what they feel is right deep inside, yet they conform to whatever the majority tells them to. One good example that I have seen is that people that were raised by their parents to be Christians, later become Agnostic because their friends or lover are. In this situation, both phases were an example of a person conforming. This person should go by what he/she feels is right and not let whoever he/she is around effect their decisions. It really is a sad thing that people are so easily swayed. Not only does it make for a weaker society, but it makes for a less-educated one as well.
2. The results to this experiment do not surprise me at all. I have seen the way that humans react in society. I have been around enough to know that most of us have no backbone when it comes to right or wrong. The only thing that surprised me is that there is no change in social pressure after being over powered by about three. I have found in my experience that it is a whole lot tougher to put my opinion against thirty people rather than four. I guess that is why they had to test this theory several times before this fact was discovered. Everything else in this study though was just a painful state of the obvious. I knew that social pressure was one of the most powerful things on the human mind.
1. Suggestibility is basically a less extreme version of hypnosis that involves repeating instructions constantly until the instructee feels they must do it. Suggestibility kind of is social pressure because the repetition of instructions makes the person feel pressured into making a decision without thinking for themselves.
2. There is about eight men in a room and they are asked to compare the lines on two large white cards. All but one of these men are asked to miss some questions on purpose. They start out with all of the men agreeing with each other. However, as the experiment continues, all but the one person start missing questions intentionally. The experiment is to see whether or not the subject falls into peer pressure or goes with what he feels is right. The results tend to fall more towards peer pressure than instinct.
3. The more people in opposition, to a certain point, the less the person fell into peer pressure. The change from a unanimous opposition to a few who answered correctly with the subject had a tremendous effect. The subject would generally go against the majority if he had some assistance.
4. Consensus involves everyone thinking for themselves in order to obtain the answer. Conformity is falling under the pressure of the masses no matter how crazy it sounds.
1. I completely agree with Asch when he stated that it is very easy to shape one's opinions or attitudes by social pressure. I see cases all the time where someone knows what they feel is right deep inside, yet they conform to whatever the majority tells them to. One good example that I have seen is that people that were raised by their parents to be Christians, later become Agnostic because their friends or lover are. In this situation, both phases were an example of a person conforming. This person should go by what he/she feels is right and not let whoever he/she is around effect their decisions. It really is a sad thing that people are so easily swayed. Not only does it make for a weaker society, but it makes for a less-educated one as well.
2. The results to this experiment do not surprise me at all. I have seen the way that humans react in society. I have been around enough to know that most of us have no backbone when it comes to right or wrong. The only thing that surprised me is that there is no change in social pressure after being over powered by about three. I have found in my experience that it is a whole lot tougher to put my opinion against thirty people rather than four. I guess that is why they had to test this theory several times before this fact was discovered. Everything else in this study though was just a painful state of the obvious. I knew that social pressure was one of the most powerful things on the human mind.
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