People can change, when confronted with themselves (Inside Skinner's Box)

[muriel_volestrangler]

A couple of days ago I read a passage in Lauren Slater's Inside Skinner's Box. The book is about various famous experiments in psychology, and it starts with probably the most famous of all, the Milgram experiment. Slater talks to two men who took part in the experiment in the early 60s, one who didn't fully obey but stopped at 150 volts, and one who went all the way to the end. The latter, when he was debriefed at the end of the experiment, was horrified. "You thought you were really giving shocks, and nothing can take away from you the knowledge of how you acted. There's no turning back."

So Slater asks him, "I would guess you think the experiments were essentially unethical, that they caused you harm."

No, he replies. No. "Not at all. If anything, just the opposite."

She stares at him.

"The experiments," he continues, "caused me to reevalute my life. They caused me to confront my own compliance and really struggle with it. I began to see closeted homosexuality, which is just another form of compliance, as a moral issue. I came out. I saw how important it was to develop a strong moral center. I felt my own moral weakness and I was appalled...I saw how pathetically vulnerable I was to authority, so I kept a strict eye on myself and learned to buck expectations."

http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/notesarchive.php?id=3031

(No, not that Skinner ... :D)

[Berry Cool]

1. Wow, that's great.

So Charles Dickens was right...you can confront people with the truth about how terribly they've behaved in life and get them to change...and it doesn't have to be with ghosts, either.

[LearnedHand]

2. I wish this happened more often (that we changed when confronted with ourselves)

This is a beautiful passage. Thanks for posting it. I wish we saw more of the humility and self-examination. Too often, though, we just see greater belligerance or complete denial. Happy to vote this to the Greatest page.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. There's an old film about the Milgram experiment, "Obedience," that should be required viewing for>>

>> all students Jr High on up. I didn't see it until college. It's plenty eye-opening to watch others obey commands, even if you yourself aren't pushing the buttons.

[cbayer]

4. K & R

:pals:

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

6. Afternoon kick. This was a very interesting read this morn.

I found some of the experiments over on Youtube, using Obedience as key word.
So very amazed at the results. Horrified really.
I recd this morn, kick.

[DKRC]

7. K&R

:kick:

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

8. One more kick for the evening crew.