During the
1960s Stanly Milgram submitted an article called ‘Behavioural Study of
Obedience’. Influenced by the trial of Nazi lieutenant colonel Adolf Eichmann
the study contained research on how participants dealt with being coerced by an
authoritative figure into acting against their judgement and committing acts of
torture upon another human. The participants were asked to administer
increasing voltage shocks to a ‘learner’ (who unknown to the participant is an
actor) when questions were answered incorrectly. The learner is placed in another
room and communication between the participant and ‘learner’ is conducted over
intercom. The results of the experiment are shocking with 37 of the 40
participants administering the highest range of lethal voltage shock of 450
volts. Milgram concluded that we do as we are told when ordered by an
authorities figure either out of fear or out of the desire to co-operate.
This paper conducts the same tests as the
Milgram experiments but within “an immersive virtual environment”. Instead of
an actor playing the role of the ‘learner’ the participents have to administer
shocks to a virtual female human. The results show that despite the fact that
all the participants are clearly aware of the shocks not being real and having
no effect on a sentient life form, all the participants showed physiological
and behavioural levels as if the situation was real. “This
result reopens the door to direct empirical studies of obedience and related
extreme social situations, an area of research that is otherwise not open to experimental
study for ethical reasons, through the employment of virtual environments.”Link: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000039
No comments:
Post a Comment