Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 896823" data-attributes="member: 317">Desire to be part of something bigger than the individual, desire to not have responsibility for one's actions, and trust that the authority figure will do the &quot;right&quot; thing.There was a psychological study in the 60's by Milgram in which the test subject was told he would read a list of paired words to a fake test subject (who the real test subject thought was another participant in the experiment and was in another room connected by intercom).&nbsp; Then, the real subject would read one of the words back, and the fake test subject was supposed to reply with the correct paired word.&nbsp; Failure meant the fake test subject recieved a jolt electricity (in reality the fake test subject was an accomplice, and no one was actually harmed or recieved jolts).&nbsp; As more word pairings were missed, the voltage increased from a few volts up into the &quot;XXX&quot; range (supposedly a very strong shock).&nbsp; At some point during the experiment, the fake subject would say he was feeling badly, that his chest hurt, and that he wanted to stop.&nbsp; The experimenter in the room with the real subject (wearing a labcoat and clipboard) would insist that the experiment continue, and that the real subject keep giving shocks even when the fake subject refused to cooperate.&nbsp; In fact, eventually the fake subject would pound on the wall, and then be silent (fake a heart attack).&nbsp; What did most people (around 80% if I recall correctly) do in this situation?&nbsp; They kept giving the shocks to the fake subject because the experimenter (the authority figure) said to, even though no punishment was threatened if they didn't give the shock.&nbsp; They trusted that the authority figure wouldn't allow something bad to happen, and that he would take responsibility for what happened.&nbsp; A rather chilling account of human behavior, but it does help to explain how the Nazis were able to coerce so many otherwise normal people to commit atrocities.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gothmog, post: 896823, member: 317"] Desire to be part of something bigger than the individual, desire to not have responsibility for one's actions, and trust that the authority figure will do the "right" thing. There was a psychological study in the 60's by Milgram in which the test subject was told he would read a list of paired words to a fake test subject (who the real test subject thought was another participant in the experiment and was in another room connected by intercom). Then, the real subject would read one of the words back, and the fake test subject was supposed to reply with the correct paired word. Failure meant the fake test subject recieved a jolt electricity (in reality the fake test subject was an accomplice, and no one was actually harmed or recieved jolts). As more word pairings were missed, the voltage increased from a few volts up into the "XXX" range (supposedly a very strong shock). At some point during the experiment, the fake subject would say he was feeling badly, that his chest hurt, and that he wanted to stop. The experimenter in the room with the real subject (wearing a labcoat and clipboard) would insist that the experiment continue, and that the real subject keep giving shocks even when the fake subject refused to cooperate. In fact, eventually the fake subject would pound on the wall, and then be silent (fake a heart attack). What did most people (around 80% if I recall correctly) do in this situation? They kept giving the shocks to the fake subject because the experimenter (the authority figure) said to, even though no punishment was threatened if they didn't give the shock. They trusted that the authority figure wouldn't allow something bad to happen, and that he would take responsibility for what happened. A rather chilling account of human behavior, but it does help to explain how the Nazis were able to coerce so many otherwise normal people to commit atrocities. [/QUOTE]

Verification