There will be two websites for the comparison of conformity and obedience. Both websites will provide insights into two classic experiments in the field of social psychology.
The first site offers a comprehensive look at Philip Zimbardo’s prison experiment. The major feature is to travel through the slide show on the website that provides you with the details of this classic study.
After viewing the slide show and expanding your knowledge of this classic experiment, provide some of your own insights about this experiment. This experiment, designed forty years ago, was an attempt to understand how individuals “identify” with specific roles and thus take the characteristics of that role even to the detriment of those involved in the experiment.
The second site describes the “classic” experiment in psychology by the man (Stanley Milgram) who “shocked” the world with his shock study in the early 60’s. The original experiment was designed to study the reasons of why individuals obey orders. This experiment was an attempt to explain (not condone) the atrocities by the Nazis in the prison camps. You can directly explore the background, methodology, results, and conclusions of this study by visiting the website. This experiment changed the way psychology handled its research methods. This experiment remains as one of the most controversial experiments in the 20th century.
The easiest way to find the website is to visit Yahoo.com and type in the name Stanley Milgram in the search engine. Then under the top 20 websites, click number 4, the perils of obedience and that will bring you to the website that describes all the procedures, results, and conclusions about this classic work.
For the assignment, describe your views of the two events, that is, can you understand why these two experiments created so much controversy at the time? Does the Milgram experiment allow you a better understand the nature of obedience? How do you think that you would have reacted/responded in each of these two situations?
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