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Milgram Experiment And Dr. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study

661 Words3 Pages

It is hard to comprehend the fact that many of us could actually abuse and even kill others, if given an order from superiors in certain circumstances. The Milgram Experiment proved this to be true, at least, to some extent. Additionally, recent findings suggest that the American Psychology Association (APA) supported and validated the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) torture program of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other locations (Risen, 2015). Is this yet another example of individuals taking orders from superiors as well as exposing the corruption that exists in our government? Firstly, it is important understand why good people turn bad. Moral standards and social norms are established in childhood. These standards of a cuture sets the tone for …show more content…

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study, concluded that high percentages of people would cause harm to others if an authority figure persuaded them to do so. The Milgram experiment included an experimenter, teacher, and student. The teacher (participant) would say a word to the student and when the student answered incorrectly the teacher was told to shock them. Although most participants were reluctant to keep increasing the voltage of shocks when they felt the student was in real pain, a surprisingly two-thirds continued following the orders of the experimenter (ABC Primetime, 2007). It appears that all of us are capable of following an authority figures directions even if it causes pain to others or even death. If it is a matter of survival some of us would do it and others would be so traumatized that they would probably commit suicide due to the psychological effects that they suffered from. These studies make some sense as to why those in high ranking positions during the Holocaust followed directions of Adolf Eichmann (ABC Primetime, 2007). However, there were more factors to the Holocaust atrocities than just following directions; it included extreme hate as

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Effects Of The Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo

406 Words | 2 Pages

The Stanford prison experiment was led by Philip Zimbardo with the purpose of studying the psychological effects of being a prisoner and a prison guard. The participants of the research study were male college students. Once selected, a coin toss determined which males would be prisoners and prison guards. The experiment took place at Stanford University, where a mock prison was crafted. Zimbardo acted as the warden or superintendent of the mock prison.

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Just Do What The Pilot Tells You Analysis

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In “The Genocidal Killer in the Mirror”, Crispin Sartwell argues that the average citizen can be convinced to commit atrocious crimes under the right circumstances from the premise that the traits to become a genocidal killer are not that uncommon, using examples from recent history such as the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and the Rwandan Genocide. Sartwell clarifies that although most people delude themselves into thinking that they wouldn’t partake in genocide if they were placed in a similar situation as many have before, it would take a “moral hero” (Sartwell 118) to refuse the opportunity given the circumstances. On the other hand, in “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You”, author Theodore Dalrymple claims that people's response to authority in respect to their obedience is what leads the average man to kill countless others. While both authors address the fact that it doesn’t take a malicious person to engage in genocide, Sartwell focuses more on the qualities that people who commit genocide commonly share, Dalrymple seems more concerned on how people react to authority in

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Similarities Between Abu Ghraib Torture And The Milgram Experiment

315 Words | 2 Pages

Title (psychology #7) In the Abu Ghraib Torture and the Milgram experiment even though they had different reasoning behind it, the same concept is behind it. The obedience to authority people tend to have is either to obey or disobey authority and do what they think is right. In both this situation many people decided to obey authority and break their morals.

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What Is The My Lai Massacre A Military Crime Of Obedience By Ian Parker

1189 Words | 5 Pages

Ian Parker, author of “Obedience”, provides accurate depictions of the immediate and long-term effects of Dr. Stanley Milgram’s Experiment. In addition, he includes that under complex situations, individuals are easily induced to react through a destructive manner (Parker103). Americans commonly underestimate the influences of a situation; however, Parker thoroughly delineates the consequences behind blind obedience (Parker 104). Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton, authors of “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience” construe the atrocity of blind obedience committed by the United States Military. In March of 1968, crimes of obedience occurred due to an elusive order commanded by a higher ranked officer (Kelman&Hamilton 131).

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Daryl Hunt Injustice

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We learned to be obedient and to respect those with authority. In our minds resisting the formal social controls is a deviant act and would result in a negative consequence. Should we fear and question those in power? According to Annie Sunderberg and Ricki Stern’s film The Trials of Daryl Hunt this just might be the case.

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Compare And Contrast Stanford Prison Experiment And Philip Zimbardo

751 Words | 4 Pages

Neither one of the circumstances was ethical at any point and had been publicized by the media for its explicit type of interrogation methods as well as sadistic behavior. In particular, Phil Zimbardo has argued that the study shows that strong situational forces can override individual differences in personality and moral values. In Abu Ghraib, soldiers were inserted into the role of prison guards and began to sadistically torment prisoners there and at other detention sites in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of the specific acts of humiliation were similar to those that transpired in the Stanford Prison Experiment, according to Zimbardo. This theory has been challenged by allegations by Seymour Hersh, in the New Yorker, that these soldiers were in fact acting under direct orders of their superiors as part of a top secret Pentagon intelligence gathering program authorized by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

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Comparing Handmaid's Tale, The Lucifer Effect, And Harrison Bergeron

1260 Words | 6 Pages

Over time, the guards began to blindly follow their instructions, even if they were dehumanizing and mistreating the prisoners. The prisoners, in turn, became passive and resigned to their mistreatment. This experiment illustrates how even seemingly normal individuals can turn to evil when their individuality is compromised by societal pressure to

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Essay Comparing The Stanford Prison Experiment And Philip Zimbardo

1182 Words | 5 Pages

Profound immorality and wickedness, especially when regarded as supernatural force, are the definitions of evil. The forces around you play a part in what you do and how you act. People are naturally good, but the society that we are built around has rules and regulations that we must follow, as if we’re good. The strongest quality of how good people act in bad situations is their position or circumstance. The 1972 Andes Flight Disaster, Phillip Zimbardo’s conclusion to human nature, and the Stanford Prison Experiment show signs of the situation and position a person is in that affect their actions.

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Compare And Contrast Stanford Prison Experiment And Abu Ghraib

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Introduction What happens when good people are put in an evil place? Does humanity overpower evil, or does evil triumph over it? When good people are put in an evil place, the triumphing of evil can be explained through a mix of mob mentality and labeling theory. First, I will discuss the events of the Stanford Prison Experiment, and how it turned good people into bad. Second, I will present the events of Abu Ghraib, and how evil triumphed there as well.

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Compare And Contrast The Milgram Experiment And The Stanford Prison Experiment

810 Words | 4 Pages

Since the beginning of the human existence, man has always dominated and ruled over one another be it empires, corporations, or small groups. Authority and obedience has always been a factor of who we are. This natural occurrence can be seen clearly through the psychological experiments known as The Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Both of these studies are based on how human beings react to authority figures and what their obedience is when faced with conflict.

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Zimbardo Stanford Prison Study

608 Words | 3 Pages

11. The findings of the Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study is that the guards began to harass prisoners. It was concluded that people will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play. 12. The findings of the Milgram study is that people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being; this because people with high authority is ingrained in us because of the way we are brought up.

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Philip Zimbardo's The Stanford Prison Experiment

1572 Words | 7 Pages

Even though there are people willing to risk it all to go back to the life they had, there are some that become submissive and stop fighting. In Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Stanford phycology department. They recruited college students to run a mock prison so they could study the effect of becoming a prisoner and a prison guard. In this experiment that was supposed to run for two weeks ended up being stopped by the researchers on the six day because it was getting out of control. This is stated by the heads of the experiment Philip Zimbardo, Craig Haney, W. Curtis Banks, and David Jaffe in their report of the experiment.

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Why Is Milgram's Research Important?

950 Words | 4 Pages

Milgram himself concluded how easily ordinary people ‘can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority". (Milgram 1974) As this report has highlighted the research is not without controversy with many questioning to what extent Milgram’s experiment is true to real life and has been criticized for not highlighting further situational variables in determining obedience to authority. Regardless of this, there is no doubt Milgram highlighted a rather troubling phenomenon.

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987 Words | 4 Pages

Obedience is the glue that sticks people to powerful beings; it is the key factor that allows authoritative personalities to carry out control. Statistical and factual analysis of historical catastrophes, such as the events that took place in the Holocaust, point to the proposal that obedience may be an innate characteristic in humans (Milgram, 1963). However, obedience also serves the purpose of enabling structure in society, and thus, it can be beneficial. Stanley Milgram designed a study to test the true effects and significance of obedience. In other words, he aimed to investigate the extent to which innocent people would go in order to follow instructions.

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1394 Words | 6 Pages

When people picture the term “homeless”, they often think of a burnt out drug addict who is begging for money on the street, with no motivation to work or find help. The definition of homelessness is as followed: An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, such as those living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or places not meant for habitation. Nearly 60,000 families experience homelessness and about 582,000 individuals (including families) are homeless. The stereotype of homelessness leaves a sour taste in a large number of people's mouths, and in turn causes an all around lack of empathy, when in reality the homeless need our help. The government needs to make bigger changes towards ending

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