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 1/24/08 Class Discussion and Videos 
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So as we discussed and watched today in class about the experiment done where people thought they were actually giving shock to a person in the other room based on answering a question wrong. I was actually trying to answer the questions during class and I would just like to say that I am glad that I didn't really have to answer those questions. I felt that the "teacher" in the experiment felt that he must obey every word of the leader. I found it hard to understand why if he was bothered so much by the shock, why he wouldn't quit the experiment. It seems as if he was trapped inside a situation he couldn't get out of even though he wanted to.... What do you guys think? :?:

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Chaise L. Swisher


Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:15 pm
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I agree with you on the "teacher" being trapped inside a situation that he couldn't get out of, but then in a way I think that if the "teacher" was so bothered by shocking the person so much why didn't he just refuse to continue and walk out of the room. The "teacher" wasn't handcuffed to the desk or anything. Maybe some people are just more affected by someone telling them what to do. Also, you never know what you will do in a situation like that until it happens to you.

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Mallory Beck


Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:53 pm
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That video just made me crazy! If I were the "teacher" I definitely would have stood up and walked out of the room, no question. I think it has a lot to do with personality and free will. If you have a strong personality and a strong set of personal values and ethics, it might be easier for you to walk away from a situation like the ones we watched today. On the other hand, it might not have anything to do with that.

We also didn't really get any background on what the experimenters said to their subjects before the test began. Were they getting any kind of monetary compensation for the test? Would this have driven them to obey more because they might not have gotten money if they had walked out? What were their personal backgrounds? Did they have authoritarian parents who made them obey even the strictest orders? Were they in an authoritarian relationship with a spouse?

I think these are all valid questions that need to be researched, that might give us a better understanding. But then again, maybe not. I really have no idea if a trend could be found or if a person's reactions are purely random. Does anyone else agree? Disagree? Want to add on?


Meaghan Dunham
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Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:51 pm
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If you take a situation like this and want to learn from it, I feel you ultimately have to apply it to yourself as it seems everyone is doing. If you think the situation is something that a person was trapped in and couldn't get out of, what similar though less drastic situations are you in today?

Given the videos and articles that I've been exposed to recently (and past), I'm more inclined to believe that I might not know exactly what I would do if I were in that kind of situation. However, if I start with that knowledge, then I can decide what is right and wrong and be able to say, like Meaghan, I definitely would walk out.

Any questions of background for these people in the experiments and other situations (and for ourselves) would shed light on why they did what they did. (And what we would do). More than anything, if someone was in an authoritarian relationship, I feel that their actions would be ruled by fear. And if you can say, I'm not afraid of the consequences, then you can stand by what you believe. Then when a principal comes and asks you to get rid of this maybe-lesbian teacher, you can tell her to take a flying leap.

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Jessica DuBose


Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:44 am
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Watching that video on Milgram's experiment I could not help but feel sorry for the "teacher." Obviously he had an option to quit at anytime, but he felt awful. I could tell that he was afraid of killing that guy. The experiment gave that man a false belief that another man's life was in his hands and he thought he had killed a man. Causing someone to believe these things about themself is cruel. I understand that Milgram was trying to learn more about human social psych. but these were just my initial thoughts during the video.

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Keara Seiler


Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:55 am
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I think that experiments like this are important to better understand the human psyche. The more we look at how and why we do something, the better we prevent the same atrocities. If it wasn't for the long-reaching psychological effects that an experiment like this could cause, then I would be all for continuing experiments like this in the spirit of human progress. However, there's no reason to potentially damage a person for the rest of their lives for the sake of one experiment. However the topic interests me and I would like to see how I and people I know would react under similar circumstances, because I think the outcomes would surprise us all, no matter what we say when we're on the outside looking in.


Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:38 am
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Obviously this video about the shock experiment really distrubed me because I can't believe that someone would continue to shock a person when they are screaming in pain and pleading for them to stop. Its kind of like if you are fighting with a brother or sister and they have you on the floor and they are sitting on top of you and you tell them to get up because you can't breathe. I guess it is kind of like that in some sense. If I was the "teacher" in the experiment, I would have stopped and walked out of the room. I would not and don't care if someone else claims they will take responsibility of my actions. Those are my actions and I would take responsibility of them, because I did it. Although, I know it is human for us to sometimes not to take responsibility of our own actions. :?: There is a common saying we may say that we would do this or that but truthfully we wouldn't know what we would do until we were actually put into that situation.

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Jo Beth Pruitt


Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:47 am
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Alright, since there were some questions about the experiment that we all thought might have affected the outcome, I did some research to get some specifics on the study. The "teacher" was a volunteer, so there was no monetary gain to them continuing the experiment. Also, the "learner" was accountant of Irish-American descent trained to act in the role. I thought that it was interesting that the "teacher" and the "learner" met before the experiment began; I thought one possibility of why people were inclined to continue was because they did not have a face to associate with the pain that they were causing on the "learner", but this is not the case sadly. Whenever the "teacher" expressed his want to stop, he/she was gived a series of verbal prods. These included:
1. Please continue.
2. The experiment requires that you continue.
3. It is absolutely essential that you continue.
4. You have no other choice, you must go on.
If the "teacher" still wanted to quit after these instructions, then the experiment was over at that point. Also, the nervous laughter and stress responses were very common as people continued in the experiment; like the ones we saw the "teacher" showing at the beginning of the sessionl.

The more I think about this experiment, the more scared I get about this human condition that I hear about. Are we all just vicious beasts? Is that why some people think that we are centers of activity; because of our capacity to make things happen, both negative and positive?


Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:01 pm
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Chaise...I also wondered why the "teacher" didnt stop the experiment when he obviously had doubts about it. But I guess he did feel trapped. I think that if I was in that situation I would feel trapped as well, and I would like to think that I would have enough couarge to tell the "leader" that I would not continue with the shocking because the "learner" on the other side was in obvious pain. I feel like the "teacher" felt he had to go on because of how the "leader" keep going, the experiment requires you to continue, and other statments that where repeated each time he had a doubt and each time he argued the "leader" relpied the same!


It was such a tough situation...I cant believe so many people went all the way throught each shock all the was to XXX.

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Melanie Klaus


Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:56 pm
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I feel like most of you that yes there were many negative feelings coming from the experiment. In a way I felt the "teacher" was a bit wrongly accused even though he did press the buttons. He did have trust in the people who ran the experiment and it at first was fair to assume they knew what they were doing. After awhile it got out of hand obviously being that they guy "on the other side" became unresponsive. I do believe that many of us would have gotten up pretty quickly. I would certainly like to believe I would. Although this experiment was done awhile ago and is of a different generation. I find it very viable that we have learned from situations like this and the Vietnam film we watched. Perhaps as a method of research if anyone would like to talk some different generations about this subject matter and the experiment itself and get back to me with thoughts. I myself buy into the fact that it was possible of a generational gap and that the guy in the film may have been part of the "yes sir" type generation.

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"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."


Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:51 pm
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I had a hard time watching the video also, for several reasons. Gayle prefaced the video with a few statements of how most of us think we wouldn't act in the same way the teacher did, but you never know until we are placed in the same situation. I think that it is important for people to understand the boundaries that they would set in various circumstances. You could tell that the "teacher" did not feel comfortable shocking the student but it was disconcerning that he continued with it as long as the leader took blame. I think that a lot of people feel the same way about many things, as long as someone else will take blame for their actions they may continue regardless of some of the rules being broken. But, I also feel that I can't judge some one else's actions when I've never been in the situations they have been in.

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Elizabeth Griffin


Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:42 am
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I agree with a lot of the statements above. I think there's no way to know how we would all react in a situation like that because we wouldn't know it was an experiment on us. If someone continuously told you, "You have to go on. You must go on. You have no other choice but to go on," you would have to be an incredibly strong willed person to get up, say no, and walk out, because like the man said, apparently you have no other choice but to continue the experiment. Maybe the teacher thought he would get in legal trouble if he refused to carry out the test as he agreed to do.

I admit though that I hated watching that video. After the first couple times that the teacher tried to object to shocking his student I became furious with the administrator that kept telling him to go on. I don't know anything about psychological experiments. I know they can be extremely beneficial, but to be honest I think they pushed the teacher too far. To make him go through the list again over and over even after he had clearly started crying and objected numerous times is ridiculous to me. I can't imagine forcing someone to do something like that and causing them so much discomfort when it's not even real in the first place.

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Megan Snyder


Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:54 pm
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The video showed a lot about the human condition. This just goes to show how humans really will act under pressure, or under certain circumstances. It's hard to believe that they do and will continue to act they way they do. Sometimes people really need to just stand up for what they believe in instead of being criticized or ridiculed. It may cause you harm, or fail you, or you may be discriminated, but as long as you truely believe what you feel, I think that's all that matters.

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Jenna Perry


Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:09 pm
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I remember watching the video and having several drastic emotional reactions. At first, when the "teacher" would shock him with low amps, and would chuckle, I giggled myself. It seemed like a joke or sort of prankish - I could definitely see something like that on "Jack-Ass" the television show. Then, as the experiment continued, I thought maybe this is fake and they're really not shocking the "learner." Then, as the "teacher" began to have serious objections to the experiment, I became worried that, yes, maybe they are shocking the "learner" and the increased voltage was going to give the man a heart attack. At that point, I just couldn't understand why the "teacher" didn't stand up and say "I don't give a damn about this experiment. I will not participate." After all, it was voluntary! I think it must have been a personal weakness of the "teacher" to be able to say no.

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Erica Shelton


Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:04 pm
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