My professor mentioned these experiments as an example of misinterpreting experimental results and the importance of debriefing your participants.

The wrong interpretation of this experiment, without aid of debriefing, is that group conformity is making people believe something that they wouldn't otherwise believe. Whereas the more correct interpretation seems to be that bored undergraduates don't care enough to pay attention or make waves and just want their extra credit.

The video above mentioned two possibilities- the subject who genuinely believes himself to be wrong and the subject who just doesn't want to make waves. But I don't think that emphasizes just how little vested interest the subject actually has in the experiment. They have no motivation to be correct! Of course you can get a measurable social pressure when the task is completely meaningless. And still, 2/3rds of the time people still say the correct answer.

Anyway, with this experimental setup only the first possibility is really interesting in my opinion. And apparently Asch died without know which possibility was dominant.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments and
http://www.zainea.com/socialconformity.htm (I don't accept the interpretation the authors give in that study).

The Milgram experiments are much more informative about authority pressure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

In the last year, I've done college papers on Milgram, Asch and Adolph Eichmann (in regards to blind obedience to authority). Good find!

Thx for the heads-up. Replaced it with another vid that recounts the experiment.

In reply to this comment by atara:
*dead

Hey, thx a lot. Different video entirely, but it still captures the same (if not a better) picture of the experiment. Seriously, you're awesome. (That's twice in one week!)

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
>> ^atara:
dead


Atara's right, your Milgram video is dead. Sorry.

EDIT: Here's a possible replacement:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1f85l_presentation-de-lexperience-milgram_events

>> ^atara:
dead


Atara's right, your Milgram video is dead. Sorry.

EDIT: Here's a possible replacement:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1f85l_presentation-de-lexperience-milgram_events

http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Original-Milgram-Experiment-1961 Dead

^actually, Milgram is the name of the psychologist who administered the shock/learning experiment in 1961. This experiment has been compared to the Milgram experiment because of its exposure of human behavioral conformity under pressure from authority despite preexisting morality or other natural tendencies.

Also know as the Milgram Experiment. More sifts = http://www.videosift.com/search?q=Milgram

Good stuff. Milgram's and Zimbardo's experiments are a fascinating look into how everyone is capable of evil under the right circumstances, particularly when there is social pressure to conform.

By the way, does anyone else think Zimbardo would make a good Lucifer look-alike? Some horns and a little red make-up... too bad the voice would give him away.

They should call it the Milgrimator 5000.

Very well said, I would of liked to hear more about that as well

In reply to this comment by SDGundamX:
I'm amazed that no one's pointed out yet that the whole "Satan as a fallen angel" story is actually popular fiction mostly taken from Dante's "Inferno" and Milton's "Paradise Lost." It has very little Biblical basis, though people who want to believe the legend often twist interpretations of certain verses in the Bible (2 Cor. 4:4) to make it fit.

I think it's too bad they got caught up in this faux-theological debate, because Zimbardo's and Milgram's experiments clearly show that "evil" is something we are all capable of under the right conditions. I think if they had talked more about that, Colbert and Zimbardo would have agreed that determining whether the authority that you're obeying is acting ethically or not is extremely difficult when you're forced to make on-the-spot decisions. Like Zimbardo said, you need to be critical of why you're doing what you're ordered or expected to do. Otherwise you may wind up engaging in behaviors that seem rational at the time but in hindsight turn out to have horrific consequences.

I'm amazed that no one's pointed out yet that the whole "Satan as a fallen angel" story is actually popular fiction mostly taken from Dante's "Inferno" and Milton's "Paradise Lost." It has very little Biblical basis, though people who want to believe the legend often twist interpretations of certain verses in the Bible (2 Cor. 4:4) to make it fit.

I think it's too bad they got caught up in this faux-theological debate, because Zimbardo's and Milgram's experiments clearly show that "evil" is something we are all capable of under the right conditions. I think if they had talked more about that, Colbert and Zimbardo would have agreed that determining whether the authority that you're obeying is acting ethically or not is extremely difficult when you're forced to make on-the-spot decisions. Like Zimbardo said, you need to be critical of why you're doing what you're ordered or expected to do. Otherwise you may wind up engaging in behaviors that seem rational at the time but in hindsight turn out to have horrific consequences.

Dr. Zimbardo conducted one of the most well known experiments in psychology, and it's extremely unfortunate that to this day we are still failing to fully grasp the implications of his groundbreaking research. I realize that there has been some recent research that has cast doubt on the broad conclusions of his study, but I think his basic thesis is still valid. I'm guessing Dr. Milgram would agree with that.

Cool, thanks for that, Rembar.

In reply to this comment by rembar:
Sorry for the late response, I've been terribly busy warring on a sift about "remote viewing", of all things. What I wrote to Jonny:

"By the by, I took a bit to go look for my notes I took while watching that video of the cat on LSD, but I can't find the right binder. The info I've found is this: the experiments were performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base by Dayton, OH as part of the MKULTRA project. I'll check around a bit more and tell you if I find my notes.

*edit* The video uploader says: I took this clip from 'Thomas Pynchon: A Journey Into the Mind of TP', a movie-documentary by Donatello & Fosco Dubini (2001). Hope that helps."

In reply to this comment by calvados:
Can you provide some exposition on the full version and/or point us to a video link?

In reply to this comment by rembar:
LadyBug, I understand where you're coming from, but I can't say I agree. I don't have time to do an informative writeup, but I had to watch the full version of the USAF LSD experiments and then comment on the process and results. I certainly wasn't sifting this video for giggles, I was hoping to add some info, but I got distracted trolling drforeverclear. *sigh*. I had been hoping to make this more of an informative post, rather than something "for posterity" or "you need to see this" or whatnot.

To this end, I am posting a documentary about the Milgram experiment and others.

Sorry for the late response, I've been terribly busy warring on a sift about "remote viewing", of all things. What I wrote to Jonny:

"By the by, I took a bit to go look for my notes I took while watching that video of the cat on LSD, but I can't find the right binder. The info I've found is this: the experiments were performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base by Dayton, OH as part of the MKULTRA project. I'll check around a bit more and tell you if I find my notes.

*edit* The video uploader says: I took this clip from 'Thomas Pynchon: A Journey Into the Mind of TP', a movie-documentary by Donatello & Fosco Dubini (2001). Hope that helps."

In reply to this comment by calvados:
Can you provide some exposition on the full version and/or point us to a video link?

In reply to this comment by rembar:
LadyBug, I understand where you're coming from, but I can't say I agree. I don't have time to do an informative writeup, but I had to watch the full version of the USAF LSD experiments and then comment on the process and results. I certainly wasn't sifting this video for giggles, I was hoping to add some info, but I got distracted trolling drforeverclear. *sigh*. I had been hoping to make this more of an informative post, rather than something "for posterity" or "you need to see this" or whatnot.

To this end, I am posting a documentary about the Milgram experiment and others.