William Atkins
Sunday, 21 December 2008 21:28
Science -
Biology
Page 3 of 5
U.S. psychologist
Jerry M. Burger , a professor at Santa Clara University in California, decided to see if people had changed in forty or so years.
He stated,
"People learning about Milgram's work often wonder whether results would be any different today. Many point to the lessons of the Holocaust and argue that there is greater societal awareness of the dangers of blind obedience." [ScienceDaily.com: “
Replicating Milgram: Most People Will Administer Shocks When Prodded By 'Authority Figure'”]
Burger aded,
"The haunting images of participants administering electric shocks and the implications of the findings for understanding seemingly inexplicable events such as the Holocaust and Abu Ghraib have kept the research alive for more than four decades.” [Time: “
Why We're OK With Hurting Strangers ”]
The Burger experiments were performed in response to the Holocaust of Jews and other groups by the German Nazis.
Abu Ghraib is a city in Iraq known for prisons and prisoner abuse and torture.
In the abstract to his paper, Burger stated,
“We conducted a partial replication of Milgram’s (1963, 1965, 1974) obedience studies that allowed for useful comparisons with the original investigations while protecting the well-being of participants.”
Twenty-nine men and forty-one women were found from advertisements placed in newspapers, the Internet, and fliers at various public places around a community. The average age of the subjects was 43 years, with 54% of them white and 40% of them holding a college education. For participating in two 45-minute sessions, they were told they would receive $50.
Page four continues with the Burger study.
