In one of my very early Psychology courses, I heard the example about the experiment that was conducted that was mentioned in class. The questions was, “if a researcher would pay me money, would I zap someone behind the window and would I keep zapping them when being encouraged by the researcher to do so even though the person was saying to stop because it hurt?” Also, they had already told me it couldn’t harm the person, it could just cause painful discomfort. My professor said, I most likely would. I clearly remember how that made me feel. I remember questioning the idea because I didn’t think I would or could do that. However, when she explained that obedience is a big part of it, I knew she was right. I was taught to respect my elders or do as told by authority, therefore, for the most part I have been an obedient person. When it was put to me in that perspective, I realized holy crap, she’s right. I probably would have zapped the crap out of somebody and then went home traumatized and cried about it.
When Dr. Mersmann asked in class to go home and read this article and then talk about it, my heart sunk not sure of what I would be reading. The following class, students asked regarding Hitler and why everybody went along with his crazy, sick ideas to kill the Jews. Understandably, being disobedient would have gotten them killed. Also, being obedient and doing as your told, especially with government and people in power and with authority, you also just do as your told. There is no way that I believe that they did not know that it was wrong. There is no way that I believe they had a chance to say no. I do although believe that it could have been prevented if somebody would have stood up but instead every country, along with the German people turned a blind eye and instead helped with a massacre and the destruction of the Jewish people. They committed a genocide.
Milgram, the researcher that performed the above experiment was an unethical sociologist and obviously used practices that will never be used or allowed again. The fact that he passively said that the shocks wouldn’t leave permanent damage, that they weren’t dangerous, and they were only painful describes how far people are willing to go in order to understand the human mind and what drives us as people. What should have happened in this experiment is that he should have been brave enough to be the guinea pig that they were zapping. That way, when he screamed it hurt, he could remember to tell himself, “no worries, it’s not dangerous, it’s just painful!”
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