If you've ever taken a social psychology course, you might have heard about Milgram's obedience experiment. If you haven't (but maybe would like to? We have them at Granite State College in adult online classes) here's a quick synopsis:
In 1961, an infamous Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, went on trial in Jerusalem for his part in the mass deportation of Jews during World War II. His defense was that he was "only following orders."
Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, wondered just how far people would go to "follow orders." Before he began, he asked fellow psychologists how much they thought "a normal person" would shock a fellow human being if ordered to do so by an authority. His colleagues said that only the most disturbed would do so.
Stanley set out to find out. He set up an experiment where people thought they were shocking another person. It started out slowly, but continued to increase. Why did they do it? A stern, convincing experimenter, dressed in a lab coat and seemingly in authority, told them they "had to do it." And the amazing thing is, 65% of them went all the way to 450 volts. (Luckily, the "shock generator" didn't really give out any voltage and the other person, unhurt, was just acting.) The world was stunned, and social psychology students continue to be horrified.
Here we are, almost 50 years ago, and this was tried again, this time on a supposed "reality" TV show in France. Here's a clip of it, and you don't need to speak French to realize that the people in the audience are given the chance to "shock" a person. It's pretty sobering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCamiWs-KMs
The director of the TV show was horrified to find that time time, 81% of the contestants agreed to go all the way.
It was reported that "One contestant interviewed afterwards said she went along with the torture despite knowing that her own grandparents were Jews who had been persecuted by the Nazis."
Well, not everything that you learn in adult classes and adult online classes is quite so grim, but I promise you, it's always interesting and thought-provoking!
Give some thought to opening your mind to new ideas by taking a college course. You can take a course in Concord NH at our Granite State College Concord campus or at any of the other eight campuses we have across New Hampshire, or you can take it in an adult online class from wherever you are. You can even take it in a combination, where some of the classes take place in the classroom and some take place online.
In 1961, an infamous Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, went on trial in Jerusalem for his part in the mass deportation of Jews during World War II. His defense was that he was "only following orders."
Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, wondered just how far people would go to "follow orders." Before he began, he asked fellow psychologists how much they thought "a normal person" would shock a fellow human being if ordered to do so by an authority. His colleagues said that only the most disturbed would do so.
Stanley set out to find out. He set up an experiment where people thought they were shocking another person. It started out slowly, but continued to increase. Why did they do it? A stern, convincing experimenter, dressed in a lab coat and seemingly in authority, told them they "had to do it." And the amazing thing is, 65% of them went all the way to 450 volts. (Luckily, the "shock generator" didn't really give out any voltage and the other person, unhurt, was just acting.) The world was stunned, and social psychology students continue to be horrified.
Here we are, almost 50 years ago, and this was tried again, this time on a supposed "reality" TV show in France. Here's a clip of it, and you don't need to speak French to realize that the people in the audience are given the chance to "shock" a person. It's pretty sobering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCamiWs-KMs
The director of the TV show was horrified to find that time time, 81% of the contestants agreed to go all the way.
It was reported that "One contestant interviewed afterwards said she went along with the torture despite knowing that her own grandparents were Jews who had been persecuted by the Nazis."
Well, not everything that you learn in adult classes and adult online classes is quite so grim, but I promise you, it's always interesting and thought-provoking!
Give some thought to opening your mind to new ideas by taking a college course. You can take a course in Concord NH at our Granite State College Concord campus or at any of the other eight campuses we have across New Hampshire, or you can take it in an adult online class from wherever you are. You can even take it in a combination, where some of the classes take place in the classroom and some take place online.
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