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A Study on Obedience

The task is to read a number of questions to another man (who is a plant). If the man answers the question wrong, he"ll get stunned with an electric shock. Every new time the man gets shocked, the voltage gets higher and higher (to the Danger: Severe Shock). The plant is supposed to miss questions continually causing the tester to raise the shock up higher and higher. As the "Voltage" raises higher and higher, the plant starts to scream and make pounding noises against the wall. The only way for the experiment to end is for the participant to tell the onlookers that he/she doesn't want to continue after hearing, "You have no choice, you must go on." from one of the onlookers. The results will determine how willing the experimented is willing to be obedient to the process, even if it means potentially injuring a man on the other side. .
             The prediction given by the experimenters was that maybe 3 out of the 40 would go all the way through with the shocks and that maybe 10 would go beyond the point where the plant would start screaming and pounding on the wall.
             From the results, an unexpected occurrence enveloped. Of the 40 tested, 26 went all the way to the last shock level. Even though many of them were shaking, sweating and even nervously laughing after hearing the screaming of the "victim", these people still went through with the experiment. Almost every single participant said that at the end of the experiment it was very painful to give those last shocks out. But they still kept on going with the experiment because of their obedience for the experiment. What does this say about the people of America? Does it mean that we can be given orders and we"ll follow through even though it might be unethical or cold-hearted? Are we too afraid to confront authority? It's a scary thought knowing that more then half of us are willing to do a horrendous task just because the authority tells you to do it.


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