Posted by beardedlady on April 6, 2002, at 14:59:34
In reply to Re: Milgram and what kind of people pressed the button » jane d, posted by Ritch on April 6, 2002, at 13:53:31
I thought I'd be one of those people who wouldn't have pressed the button--you know, a questioner of authority. (I was asked to leave my Sunday school at 12 because I kept asking why, if there really was a God, he allowed the holocaust.) But when this experiment was conducted, 60-65% of the people pushed the button all the way to 450 volts. And not a single person stopped before 300 volts!
There are a couple of good sites for his work. This one has the set-up of the experiment: http://www.new-life.net/milgram.htm.
I once read that many of these people suffered from emotional problems after this survey, but I don't know where I read it.
Milgram had some interesting experiments, but this is one of history's most unethical scientific studies. Of course, he had other motives.
We always say that it can't happen today, now that we know about it. But we know about the holocaust, and holocausts happen anyway.
beardy : />
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thread:21526
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020403/msgs/21565.html