Social Influence On Social Psychology

Social psychology studies an individuals’ behaviors and how their behaviors change according to their current situation and the influence of their cultural submersion (cite; textbook). With the intention to understand social influence on individuality, experiments performed to highlight role-playing, conformity, and obedience have been conducted and shaped social psychology as it is known today (cite; textbook). Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, performed an experiment to study humans’ obedience to authority by recruiting 40 ordinary individuals as “teachers”, where they administered electric shock to “Students” for answering questions inaccurately (cite; video). Phillip Zimbardo, a Stanford psychologist, assigned 21 college students at

Each participate was picked at random and paid $4.50 for participation; upon arrival, the test subjects participated in a fixed draw to determine if they would be the teacher or the learner. The learner (actor) was strapped to a chair in an opposing room while the teachers (test subjects) were seated in front of a shock generator that ranged from 15 volts to 450 volts. The teacher would then ask the learner a series of questions, each question answered incorrectly would receive a shock administered by the teacher and would increase with each inaccurate answer. To insert authority, a man in a lab coat remained with the teacher and prompted him to continue at signs of uncertainty when the learner vocalized discomfort (previously recorded) and/or asked for the study to end. The results were riveting, all participants continued to 300 volts, while 65% of the participants reached the full amount of 450 volts; enough to kill the learner.

In 2007, ABC News performed their own version of the Milgram experiment to assess if the culture of decades would give different results. Due the unethical nature of the original experiment, this version was developed with 1 key change; shock level ended at 150 volts (cite). A few other changes were made with the participant group such as the study included women and the prompts to continue became less intrusive.

The Guards (3 per shift), met the prisoners in guard uniforms with sunglasses and a baton, stripping the prisoners of their identities and introducing them to their new assigned numbers. Reports show the first day was uneventful, but by day two the prisoners began to disobey and discuss riot and the guards planned psychological actions to keep the prisoners under control (cite). By day six, the participates had been fully engulfed in their roles, even Zimbardo himself saw blurred lines on what reality was. The Guards had found their power, psychologically torturing the prisoners and the prisoners believed they were in prison and could not leave and had no free will although 2 prisoner participates left the study due to the psychological nature of the experiment