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How Far Can People Be Pushed?
Activity 1: What's your prediction? How far can people be pushed?
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- Time frame: Approximately 30 Minutes
- Setting: Online or face-to-face
- Source: Chapter 10 Social and Cultural Influences
from Essentials of Psychology by Saul Kassin, Gregory J. Privitera, and Krisstal D. Clayton - Learning Objectives:
- Identify how we can make errors in judgments about others and how to reduce those incorrect judgments using psychological tools.
- Estimate which situations can have the greatest impact on behavioral change.
- Recognize the variables that contribute to prejudice, and assess the brain’s role in stereotype development.
How far can people be pushed?
The Situation
You read a newspaper ad for a psychology experiment that pays well, so you sign up. As you arrive at the laboratory located at Yale University, you meet two men. One is the experimenter, a young man dressed in a white lab coat. The other is a pleasant middle-age man named Mr. Wallace. After introductions, the experimenter explains that you will be taking part in a study on the effects of punishment on learning. By a drawing of lots, it is determined that you’ll serve as the “teacher” and Mr. Wallace as the “learner.” So far, so good.
Before you know it, however, the situation takes on a more ominous tone. You find out that your job is to test the learner’s memory and administer electric shocks of increasing intensity whenever he makes a mistake. While in another room, you watch the experimenter strap Mr. Wallace into a chair, roll up his sleeve, tape electrodes onto his arm, and apply “electrode paste” to prevent blisters and burns. You overhear Mr. Wallace say that he has a heart problem and the experimenter reply, “although the shocks are painful, they will not cause permanent damage.” You then go back to the main room, where you’re seated in front of a shock generator—a machine with thirty switches that range from 15 volts (labeled “slight shock”) to 450 volts (labeled “XXX”).
Your task is easy. First, you read a list of word pairs to Mr. Wallace through a microphone. Blue—phone. Girl—hat. Fish—spoon. Then, you test his memory with a series of multiple-choice questions. If his answer is correct, you go to the next question. If it’s incorrect, you announce the correct answer and shock him. As you press the shock switch, you can hear a buzzer go off in the learner’s room. After each wrong answer, you’re told to increase the shock intensity by 15 volts. You don’t realize it, but the experiment is rigged, and Mr. Wallace—who works for the experimenter—is not receiving any shocks. As the session proceeds, the learner makes more and more errors, leading you to work your way up the shock scale. As you reach 75 volts, you hear the learner grunt in pain. At 120 volts, he shouts. If you’re still in it at 150 volts, he complains about his heart and cries out, “Experimenter! That’s all. Get me out of here. I refuse to go on!” Screams of agony and protest follow. If you reach 300 volts, he absolutely refuses to go on. By the time you surpass 330 volts, the learner falls silent. 360 volts. Zap. Not a peep. 420, 435, 450. Zap. Still no response.
At some point, you turn to the experimenter. What should I do? Shouldn’t we check on him? But in answer to your inquiries, the experimenter calmly repeats his commands: “Please continue.” “The experiment requires that you continue.” “You have no other choice, you must go on.”
Make a Prediction
What do you do? Feeling caught between a rock and a hard place, do you follow your conscience or obey the experimenter? At what voltage do you stop? How would other participants react? Would anyone in their right mind keep shocking the hapless Mr. Wallace all the way to 450 volts? Based on what you know about people, try to predict the point at which most participants stopped and defied the experimenter. Make your prediction by identifying a voltage level.
15 • 45 • 75 • 105 • 135 • 165 • 195 • 225
255 • 285 • 315 • 345 • 375 • 405 • 435 • 450
The Results
Almost 60 years ago, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (1963) staged this situation to examine obedience to authority. When Milgram described the study to college students, adults, and a group of psychiatrists, they predicted that, on average, they would stop at 135 volts—and that almost nobody would go all the way. They were wrong. In Milgram’s initial study, 26 out of 40 men—that’s 65 percent—delivered the ultimate punishment of 450 volts.
What Does It All Mean?
Why did so many participants obey, even while thinking they were hurting a fellow human being? One possible explanation for these scary results is that Milgram’s participants—all of whom were male—were unusually cruel and sadistic. Who were these guys? Or maybe the result says something about men in general. What if the participants were women instead? How far up the shock scale would they go? In a follow-up study, Milgram examined this question by putting 40 women in the same situation. The result: 65 percent of the women tested administered 450 volts, identical to the number of men.
Perhaps people in general will harm a fellow human being. As a sad commentary on human nature, perhaps Milgram’s study says more about aggression than obedience. But how far would participants go if not ordered to do so? What if the experimenter did not constantly prod the participants to raise the voltage level? In this situation, Milgram found that only 1 participant out of 40 (2.5 percent) pressed the last switch. Most stopped at 75 volts.
Milgram’s participants had acted out of obedience, not cruelty. In fact, most were visibly tormented by the experience. Many of those who administered 450 volts perspired, stuttered, trembled, bit their lips, and even burst into fits of nervous laughter. It was as if they wanted to stop but felt powerless to do so. What does it mean? When Nazis were on trial for their war crimes, their defense was, “I just followed orders.” Intrigued by the power of authority implied by this statement, Milgram devised a laboratory situation to mimic the forces that operate in real-life crimes of obedience. As we’ll learn throughout this chapter, this classic research cries out the message of social psychology loud and clear: Other people can have a profound impact on our behavior.
Next - Activity 2: Studying Appropriately For Exams
