16195 |
SST / PSY 251
Studies in Obedience: THE MAN AND THE EXPERIMENT THAT
SHOCKED THE WORLD ( |
Stuart
Levine |
M
3:00 pm-6:00 pm |
LB3 302 |
SSCI |
Cross-listed: Human Rights; Psychology It has now been
more than fifty years since the original work of Stanley Milgram demonstrated
the remarkable and very widely unpredicted finding that large numbers of
individuals in multiple samples of American men and women studied were willing
to "punish" another person when ordered to do so by an experimenter;
this in the stated but false context of a psychology experiment on learning and
memory. The prominence of the initial
work and the continued salience of such study and accumulated findings in the
domain of social psychology cannot be over-stated. And it very much has not reached the stage
of dormancy as the publication of studies, reviews and conferences on the topic
of obedience to authority continue to appear in unabated fashion. It is even the case that as recently as six
years ago a replication of the original study, with only slight modifications,
and with concordant resultswas published (J. Burger, January 2009). Further revealing of prominence and
remarkable is that fact that a new full-length movie version of the original
study (a biopic) is about to be released.
In addition, a diligentsearch of current psychology or cross
disciplinary archives uncovers further studies that provide evidence that
obedienceand indeed destructive obedience is very much prevalent in our society
and in many others as well and in a myriad of contexts. The domain of the
"Milgram study” is especially worthy of continuing interest. This because of the vastness of both
criticism and praise of the original work but also because of historical and
significant events in the intervening years between 1960sandstretching to our
current time. The continuing study of
obedience is vital for the betterment of institutions, even in a democratic society. Social scientists should and must find a way
to safely and ethically investigate the conditions that promote destructive
obedience and thereby begin to learn the rudiments of how such can be
minimized. This is a college
seminar. It is not limited to psychology
or social studies or for that matter majors in any particular discipline. The two criteria for membership are a
willingness to read with care and then with conviction share with others the
results of such reading and study. Over
the course of the semester a sizable portion of the work contained in the body
of the obedience literature is reviewed.
Admission by permission of the instructor. Class size 10 – 12.
NOTE: While that which I describe in this note is
still in the planning stage I would inform all who may enroll of the scheduling
of “Sunday Evening” visitor sessions.
Such evenings may occur six or seven times over the course of the term
as the contribution of these individuals is associated with the topics and
presentations of the student members of our group on Monday afternoon of that
week. The visitors are obedience to
authority scholars and researchers. The
sessions on such occasions will meet at 6:00 pm in the French Door Room of the
Faculty Dining Room and will last about two hours. A pasta bowl from the dining service will be
available. The visitor will then most
likely attend our Monday seminar session to join in the discussion of the
student presentations.