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Moral Dilemmas and Human Psychology


            As human beings, we often have to face many difficult situations that require us to make hard decisions. The question is, on what standard do we base our decisions? Nearly every society will have two different internal law codes, that of what is "just" and what is "unjust." We often solve a moral dilemma by considering the consequences, pondering either the demands of those in authority or our own personal beliefs, eventually choosing to prize one over the other. Once the decision has been made, and we see the outcome of that decision, this helps us with the next moral dilemma, sometimes prompting us to make better decisions next time. In the end, we will either gain or lose as a result of our decision. And,of course, every moral choice we make requires courage. .
             Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist, carried out an experiment in the United States in 1961, asking the question: "How far will a human being go if an anonymous authority orders him to torture or even to kill a fellow human?" As mentioned earlier, people often weigh the consequences between obeying authority versus adhering to personal beliefs. When either of these two factor dominate one another, the preferred factor is given a force that leads individuals to either take part in or to resist an unjust action. Authority is more than just a powerful source that gives out order; it consists of creating pressure and a reward-punishment system to support those who can fulfill the orders. This point has been proved by the Milgram's experiment. The detached voice of authority had a huge impact on how the participants carried out electric shock on their victims whenever the victims gave a wrong answer. .
             In this experiment, the scientist represented the authority. He also stated clearly that it is very important for the participant to complete the study. During the experiment, the percentage that refused to obey the authority was almost zero.


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