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bluejayk — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 13:38:10 -0800

In the famous Milgram experiment, to examine obedience and authority, why does the actor never specifically use the word 'help'? Some friends and I were talking about the famous Milgram experiment (in which volunteers believed they were giving shocks to other volunteers, though the other volunteer was always a confederate and the shocks were fake).

I brought up this idea, but everyone else thought it was stupid. I'm no longer in college, so no handy psyc professors to ask. Why didn't the actors ask for help? I know that their voices were recorded, but I've listened to the recordings, and they say things like "Stop! Ouch! Don't do it anymore!" and the toughest one "I think I'm having a heart attack!". I think the specific word 'help' is extremely conspicuous in its absence. Is there any mention of this in the experiment or criticisms of the experiment? It seems to me like asking for help changes the authority dynamic, and asks the person not merely to stop doing something, but to take some positive action. Is there some reason the word was not included? Anyone know if different versions of the experiment included this word? Did it change the results?

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b1tr0t — Sun, 29 Aug 2004 00:56:07 -0800

Management Psychology filter: What other experiments have been performed that are similar to the Stanford Prison Experiment? I distinctly remember watching a video about a similar 1950s experiment in which the "prisoners" were hired actors, and the "interrogators" were the test subject [ f(m,i) = yes ] In the '50s experiment, a group of "ordinary americans" (I don't think they were specifically college kids, more like working-class people) were divide into two groups - prisoners and interrogators. The interrogators asked questions (math, or logic questions that had well defined answers) and administered an electric shock when the prisoner got the answer wrong. Prisoners and interrogators are separated by a cubicle-like partition. The interrogators were told that the experiment tested the effect of an electric shock on the prisoners' math ability. After each wrong answer, the interrogator was to give the prisoner a shock, and increase the power slightly for the next shock.

At first, most of the prisoners get the answers right. The small shocks had little audible effect on the prisoners. As the power of the shocks increased, the prisoners started to cry out. Each interrogator reached the point where they were clearly concerned about the pain they were inflicting. But after the "manager" confirmed that they were doing good work, their fear went away. Most seemed to enjoy punishing the wrong answers.

At the end, it is revealed that the "electric shock" simply illuminated a light bulb at the prisoner's station. The prisoner had been instructed to give wrong answers from time to time and scream progressively louder each time the light went on.

I have a hard time believing that this experiment and the Stanford experiment were the only studies carried out on abusive management.

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