We Are Not Sheep After All

[kerravonsen]

Prompted by a piece of fanfic that disturbed me on a level that I couldn't articulate, I looked up the Milgram experiment. I already knew about the general results, that a high proportion of people will obey authority even when it goes against their own morals. Which is a terribly depressing statistic, and makes me weep for humankind, that we are so helpless to resist evil.

However, looking at the details, including variants of the experiment which changed certain conditions, there were two heartening results:
1) Compliance was reduced when the "teacher" was required to be more "hands-on" in the experiment.
2) Compliance was reduced when there were additional people in the experiment who refused to comply.

The first is heartening because one way to resist evil is to remember that the other person is someone just like us.

The second is heartening because it is experimental proof that one person can make a difference. ONE PERSON resisting evil authority can break the log-jam that prevents others from doing so. One person.

Of course, it is very hard to be that "one person".

A third, somewhat heartening result is that in other experiments across the globe, the proportions have varied in different cultures. It's only somewhat heartening, since most cultures appear to have the "high" proportion of compliance. However, the fact that some cultures (such as the Inuit of Canada) have low compliance means that it isn't something hardwired in us, that it is something that could possibly be changed.

Comments

[capri0mni]

I knew about the second condition, but not the first.

What that first one tells me is that brutality is easiest to act on if it's turned into something "abstract" -- less real, somehow ... like shuffling numbers around on an abacus. But if we see an authority figure actually committing a cruelty, than our humanity is more likely to shine through.

And as for the second condition -- that's one reason why (when I remember it) I feel that writing about injustice in my journal(s) is more than just a waste of personal time -- if someone out there sees my protest, then maybe they'll be motivated to speak out when they encounter it in their own lives.

You know?

[kerravonsen]

Ah, no, you misunderstood. It wasn't when the authority figure committed the cruelty that compliance was lower, it was when the experimental subject had to hold down the actor's hands to the electric shock plate that the compliance was lower.
When we have more empathy with others, it is harder to do evil to them.

[capri0mni]

Ah, yes. I was thinking Teacher and Authority were synonimous.

And right. It's much easier to be cruel when you're at a distance and only have to push a button.

[tptigger]

Look what's been happening in Libya and Egypt: the military tend to defect to the opposition when asked to fire upon peaceful protests by their own people.

[kerravonsen]

Maybe they learned from Tiananmen Square.

[watervole]

The other reassuring thing about the experiment is that people who were participants and who were properly debriefed afterwards have often become far more aware of that aspect of human behaviour and more able to resist it.

[kerravonsen]

True.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I can think of one behavioural psychologist who would think this a "very fun" experiment to do on students.

"For evil to flourish it requires good men to do nothing."

I'm not surprised that the results are higher for those with a more authoritarian, stratified society.

[kerravonsen]

I wasn't surprised when the results were even higher for Asian countries than for Western countries.