So in 1961, Stanley Milgram (pictured below, who is kind of cute in a beard-y sort of way)
was this psychologist at Yale University that was contemplating all the recent Nazi war criminal trials. He wondered if, as the condemned men said, they were "just following orders" or if these war criminals were just as cruel as their superiors. So being a psychologist, Milgram's like "I'm going to put off shaving and do a social experiment."Here's how the experiment worked- Milgram took an assortment of ordinary people from all walks of life and told them he was doing an experiment on how learning is affected by punishment. In the experiment, these participants were told by the experiment administrator that they would act as "teachers" by reading a list of associations to a "learner" out of sight in the other room. If the "learner" got a question wrong, the "teachers" were instructed to give the "learner" an electric shock. The "teacher" was to increase voltage after every wrong answer. To give you some perspective, the lowest level of voltage was labeled "15 volts (slight shock)" while the highest level of voltage was labeled "450 volts (danger-extreme shock)." A handy diagram for you follows.
What the "teacher" didn't know was that the "learner" was an actor who wasn't getting shocked at all. So the experiment was really about seeing how far ordinary people could be pushed to inflict pain.
It turned out they could be pushed pretty far.
65% of the participants pushed the voltage up to 450 volts, even after being told that the "learner" had a heart condition. These participants did not inflict pain with joy-- most participant "teachers" were reported to have been seriously disturbed while amping up the voltage. Yet, with the prodding of "authority figures" (doctors in lab coats), they amped it up anyway.
This experiment has been performed in several other countries, all with similar results. This experiment has been used as evidence that most people bend under the societal pressure to do evil. This experiment has been used to help explain some of the most horrific events of our time. I agree, this experiment goes a long way in exploring the psychology of evil.
But I think it does something else as well, something that everyone can recognize in their day to day lives. I think this experiment helps explore every-day, garden variety nastiness. Think of all the kind-of-jerkoffish things you've done over the last-- let's say week. Nasty things you said, people in need you ignored, whatever. Now think about how much of that was due to peer pressure, your own social conditioning, whatever. And lastly, think about all the sort-of-douchey things you said and did and think about how much of it was truly necessary.
Right, that's what I thought.
It's easy to be like "Oh, because I'm not a co-conspirator in a fascist regime-- this experiment doesn't apply to me." But I think it kind of does, to greater and lesser degrees. As our society industrializes further and further, we become more and more isolated. And when you don't have a personal connection with someone, it's is too easy to be cruel to said person. Being nasty is just too easy in this day and age.
Milgram's experiment kind of proved this too.He found that the more psychological distance the "teacher" had from the "learner", the more the "teacher" was likely to bend under the doctor's pressure to administer higher and higher levels of voltage. If the teacher only read the questions and did not administer the shocks personally, 90% of the teachers finished the experiment. If the teacher had to physically touch the learner in order to administer the shocks, only 30% finished the experiment. That is still a disturbing number, but I'll take 30% a-holes over 90% a-holes any day of the week.
I think this may explain why people are such bitches to each other on the internet and in traffic. There is such unnecessary meanness online and on the freeway, and I think it has to do with that lack of personal connection.
All this is to say, just be kind people. Be kind when it's easy, be kind when it's hard. When you get pissed off or annoyed or whatever just really, really think if the action you are about to take is necessary. If it's not, then back the f*** off, son.
Here's a good rule of thumb. Imagine yourself as the hero of a movie/book/fictional thing. Now imagine you are reading/viewing your own actions. Are you thinking to yourself "This person is so ace!" or "This person is a completely pathetic douchebag."
Don't be the completely pathetic douchebag, people. Be the heroes and heroines of your own lives.
Back soon with more smart, better stuff. And know that even if you were administering me slight electrical shocks, I would still be....
Affectionately Yours,
Kit Steinkellner
PS. If you were administering shocks over 150 volts, I would not be your anything. Every girl has her limits.
It's easy to be like "Oh, because I'm not a co-conspirator in a fascist regime-- this experiment doesn't apply to me." But I think it kind of does, to greater and lesser degrees. As our society industrializes further and further, we become more and more isolated. And when you don't have a personal connection with someone, it's is too easy to be cruel to said person. Being nasty is just too easy in this day and age.
Milgram's experiment kind of proved this too.He found that the more psychological distance the "teacher" had from the "learner", the more the "teacher" was likely to bend under the doctor's pressure to administer higher and higher levels of voltage. If the teacher only read the questions and did not administer the shocks personally, 90% of the teachers finished the experiment. If the teacher had to physically touch the learner in order to administer the shocks, only 30% finished the experiment. That is still a disturbing number, but I'll take 30% a-holes over 90% a-holes any day of the week.
I think this may explain why people are such bitches to each other on the internet and in traffic. There is such unnecessary meanness online and on the freeway, and I think it has to do with that lack of personal connection.
All this is to say, just be kind people. Be kind when it's easy, be kind when it's hard. When you get pissed off or annoyed or whatever just really, really think if the action you are about to take is necessary. If it's not, then back the f*** off, son.
Here's a good rule of thumb. Imagine yourself as the hero of a movie/book/fictional thing. Now imagine you are reading/viewing your own actions. Are you thinking to yourself "This person is so ace!" or "This person is a completely pathetic douchebag."
Don't be the completely pathetic douchebag, people. Be the heroes and heroines of your own lives.
Back soon with more smart, better stuff. And know that even if you were administering me slight electrical shocks, I would still be....
Affectionately Yours,
Kit Steinkellner
PS. If you were administering shocks over 150 volts, I would not be your anything. Every girl has her limits.
