PSYC 215 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Milgram Experiment, Demand Characteristics
2 Dec 2018
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Him asking us to put our hands in the air. Context for his research: holocaust & explanations given by people claiming to only have followed orders. To understand the unthinkable (how nazis killed the jews) Around 60% of participants went to "xxx" level of shocking. Psychiatrists and lay people did not predict anywhere near this amount of obedience. Nazi trials at the time revealed "only following orders" excuse: american observers assumed such obedience could never happen in the us. Even social psychologists, who were interested in the power of social situations, did not fully predict this: Some researchers thought you could learn all you needed to know by asking people what they would do. Even observers, who saw the whole set up, were amazed by both the level of obedience and the distress that it caused. One observer related: witnessed neat business guy turn into a nervous wreck within 20minutes, yet continued doing it.
