PSYCH 1X03 Chapter Notes - Chapter Chapter 6 Section 3: Normative Social Influence, Optical Illusion
1 Dec 2016
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You are greeted by an experimenter who explains you will be in an experiment examining the effects of punishment on memory performance. You are the teacher - administering electric shocks to the learner each time he responds incorrectly. In the study, 65% of subjects administered all the volt shocks even when they were aware that they were hurting the learners. People have a strong desire to be polite, we do not like to cause problems. To get along in the world, we all learn not to rock the boat and we are reluctant to let go of this tactic. Most people are uncomfortable with confrontations and to talk out of an experiment when the experiment is telling you that you must continue requires a confrontation. The experimenter is, in this scenario, an authority figure dispensing strict orders: when he tells the subject that they will not be held responsible, it goes a long way towards obedience.
