Sunday, March 20, 2011

Book Reading #35 - Obedience to Authority

Chapters 1-8
Summary
The first experiment discussed is the classic experiment of what people do under authority. They were told to administer a specific level of shock and ramp it up as they get questions wrong. The many levels of how this experiment was done are described starting with inquiring for participants. Also, it described who the "victims" would be and how all the players come together to create the experiment. Then results were tallied and showed to have a clear trend showing where most people would not continue the experiment. Another factor in the experiment that was used was how the person delivering the "shock" saw the victim. This got progressively closer and had an affect on the out come. Next the book then focused on specific experiments of shock treatment. Then in future experiments new variations were created to make the victim vocalize that they have actual heart conditions at certain levels of voltage and also comparing the gender role of the victim and shocker. Also discussed were the specifics of when confrontation of authority occurred. Lastly a role switch experiment was done to see what happens when the subject is a different role in the experiment (ex. giving orders).

Discussion
It was interesting to see in the huge description of the experiment what all went into making this experiment work and all the different variables. This is obviously similar to the Opening Skinner's Box book but only focusing on one particular experiment. Also, I find it very similar to the coming of age in samoa because it presents findings in a similar fashion.

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