Truth Within Experience

Truth Within Experiments

Milgram and Asch reports about obedience are different. In Milgrim’s report he was trying to say that people will do something to the extreme even if they are hurting someone or something. The experiment he decided to construct shows just that. His experiment shows that will power can go a long way. Asch’s reported experiment showed that people can be easily influenced by a group of people. And if the one person feels alone in a group situation the majority is correct. Social pressure is the factor in this case.

The basic question in Milgram’s report comes down to who are we and should we obey when it interferes with our conscience? Based on his writing about what he learned in his experiment average people learned more about themselves and how much will power they had. On the other hand, Asch hoped to learn the extent of peer pressure. Will a group of people alter the thinking of one individual? He states that the tests also illustrate a new kind of attack on the problem and some of the more subtle questions that it raises ( 307). Each psychologist designed their own unique experiment to study and research the answers to their questions.

Migram’s first experiment consists of two people in a laboratory. The learner is sent to a room and is strapped into an electric chair. He is also told he is to listen to a list of paired words to remember and if he gets them wrong he will receive an intensive electric shock. The teacher is placed by an electric generator which is labeled with a voltage designation ranging from 15 to 450 volts. Four switches are marked slight shock, moderate shock, strong shock, very strong shock, intense shock, extreme intensity shock, and danger: severe shock. The trick is the learner doesn’t receive any shocks after the experiment begins because he is acting. There are two experiments that are the same but with different people. The first experiment involves a woman with the last name Brandt. She gives the learner 210 volts and decides to stop. The second experiment is with a man named Prozi. Even though Prozi had the same test he continued to question the man in the electric chair until the experiment was discontinued.

Asch’s experiment also had a test but it was much less physically and emotionally damaging. For this test he gathered many college students into a classroom and asked for their opinions on the length of three lines. On one card there is a single line and on the other card are three lines. The students must choose the line that is equal to the line on the other card. The first time everyone chooses the same lines and the same for the second time. The third