I do think the psychologist at the end of that video and the psychology student (?) who made the videos above both came to some wrong conclusions, but I’d like to get y’all opinions. I think it’s a fascinating topic.
It is interesting but also something that I wouldn’t want to discuss anymore because I’ve discussed it to death, too long, too often, too passionately.
Two experiments that introduced me to this subject are the “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes” experiment and the “Milgrim” experiment. They’re worth reading about/watching.
I think that he’s basically right but he’s simplifying things and there are more factors that are not being discussed. It is a complicated subject and the experiment didn’t control certain conditions so I am not sure that it is a valid experiment.
As an example, some of the candidates were from other schools but some were from that same school, and some even knew the people around the table, and even one was sitting in a familiar enviroment… An experiment needs to be carried out in equal conditions for everyone to be able to get valid conclusions (or something close to valid conclusions)
[FONT=“Georgia”]Well that was the first thing that bothered me.
And why I’d not call psychology a “science”, in that it’s not a study of the nature of objective, unchanging things. I don’t think humans are so objective. The varying results, from Nolan on one extreme to Charlie on the other, to me shows that humans are not homogenised and will not always act the same way; Unlike say, Newton’s apple falling from a tree.
What time did you post this? See, you do not give enough time before you get impatient.
These tests are old hat by the way, maybe that is another reason why people do not react.
The test analysis is also flawed. They never go into the why these people
react the way they do. From early childhood on we are trained to conform, to lose our individuality to be part of the greater mass. Authority figures are held up as guides for our behavior, parents demand adherence to the laws they set up, no matter how irrational they might be: “You have to do this or be like this just because I say so!” Teachers with their subtle indoctrinations do the same.
So children are confused while growing up. A lot of them stay confused and become sheeple because that is the path of least resistance for them to live their lives. Peace with your neighbor is preferred over truth. Rational thinking is despised (“You think you are better than me?”).
So, no wonder the test people reacted the way they did. When the mass of human kind thinks that the individual is unimportant but society has the right to dictate that you must abdicate your responsibility to your own self and leave it up to the “wisdom” of central planning, the result is what you see in these videos.
Let’s wait for more people to view the teens videos first. Until then, here’s a question about the second one.
Do you think there would be any difference in the events if the four men carting off those candid camera stars were not wearing authoritative looking uniforms?
I am with the others. As an experiment it isn’t truly scientific. No random numbers, just one of each type of personality… for instance a random number of HS quarter backs or students who enjoy similar social attributes to find a median.
They were fun and interesting experiments nonetheless!
As for your specific questions, I’ll have to watch it again. I just finished up a Psychology class so this is intriguing, wish I had found these videos earlier!
[FONT=“Georgia”]Do you think the street video was more an example of conformity or confusion?
Because I’m remembering our whole discussion on Derren Brown that time, and this video of him paying with blank paper.
Is it that they see the uniforms and think, “Wow, uniforms! I better do what these guys want,” or is it more like… “huh? Wait. What?”
The black guy was laughing while they carried him off, so he seemed to realise something was amiss. But even then he didn’t resist. Submission or Curiousity?
And I wonder about the other people in that video; The ones walking up and down the pavement. So strange that not a single one (that we can see) stopped to say something. Or even just to maco. Conformity on their parts too?
I took psychology in college so I’ve covered much of the stuff on conformity and related theories as part of my studies. I’ll not debate the subject (as I’ve also debated this kind of thing to death) however what I will say is in respect to psychology being (or not) a science, I do consider psychology a science on the basis that most proper studies carried out do take into account bias and variables which could affect the outcomes, alike science it also doesn’t state anything to be fact, rather theories with supporting information to correlate a relationship. I think it’s wrong to be misguided and think that psychology in itself is flawed, it’s just like any other scientific method, if you don’t account for all your variables and control the study properly, it (of course) will be skewed.
Humans may be irrational creatures but their raw behaviour is objective, it’s done with purpose and logic (in some form), while you can’t depend on people acting in a certain way it can be correlated with variables to determine the underlying causes. If you want to be arguing a point you shouldn’t use Newton as an example, it’s the complete opposite of objectivity, after all while gravity is a force which should act in a certain way there are conditions where it can be manipulated, influenced or even beaten outright. Many scientists believe that gravity is being beaten in space (to a certain extent), especially when it comes to theories about black holes, as for on earth, gravity can be defeated using magnetic forces so alike humans, given the right conditions it can violate the convention. Human behaviour is like biology, whether nature or nurture it can be influenced, it can be manipulated, it can even be controlled, you just need to know what your diving into
Both, and also a surprise factor. Neither one of these guys was a potential leader, they were surely followers.
They do not think at that moment at all. Both of these guys had already accepted authority to know better than they do, they had given over their decision making a long time ago to the “others”, the ones that know better than they do. Sheeple to varying degree in other words.
Yes, he did realize what was going on after a while and played along. Not submission but taking the opportunity to be part of the fun. A good sport and half a sheeple
Today people are fearful to get involved. Often, if a person tries to help they get sued in the end or shot at, so people have turned off the surrounding and other humans. It is a mechanism to be protective of themselves.
