“Behavioral Study of Obedience” Stanley Milgram Essay Example

â€Å"Behavioral Study of Obedience† Stanley Milgram Essay Example â€Å"Behavioral Study of Obedience† Stanley Milgram Essay â€Å"Behavioral Study of Obedience† Stanley Milgram Essay â€Å"Behavioral Study of Obedience† Stanley Milgram Shashi Bhatt â€Å"Behavioral Study of Obedience† Stanley Milgram The Milgram’s experiment on Obedience to authority figure was a series of experiment in social psychology conducted by Stanley Milgram. The experiment measured the willingness of study participants to obey authority figure, which instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. It has been understood before this experiment that people tend to obey authority figure. Milgram’s work showed researchers the depth of this tendency and identified several of its key mechanism. Obedience, as determinant of behavioral, is as of particular relevance to our time. It has been reliably established, that innocent people were slaughtered on command in gas and death chambers. These inhumane ideas originated in single person’s mind, yet they could be carried out to extreme scale, if large number of people obeyed orders. Obedience is psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose. Obedience may be educative and refer to acts of kindness or charity, as well as to destruction. General Procedure Milgram developed an intimidating shock generator, with shock levels starting at 30 volts and increasing in 15-volt increments all the way up to 450 volts. The switches were labeled with terms including slight shock, moderate shock and danger: severe shock. Each participant took the role of a teacher, who would then deliver a shock to the student every time an incorrect answer was produced. While the participant believed that he was delivering real shocks to the student, the student was actually a confederate in the experiment who was simply pretending to be shocked. The order to administer shocks are given to subject in context of â€Å"learning experiment† to study the effects of punishment on memory. As shock got higher the subject begin to build internal resistance and subject refused to go on with the experiment. Behavioral prior to this is considered â€Å"obedience. † This technique allowed variable to be manipulated at several points of experiment. Related Studies The experiment bears an important relation to philosophical analysis of obedience and authority. Based on some studies, obedience is ubiquitous and indispensable feature of social life. Method The participants in the Milgram experiment were 40 men recruited using newspaper ads. In exchange for their participation, each person was paid $4. 50. The subjects had wide variety of careers and qualification. The were also told, they would be paid $4. 50 simply for coming to the experiment. The role of experimenter was played by 31-year old high school biology teacher. The teacher appearance was stern throughout experiment. The victim was played by a 47-year old accountant. Procedure One naive subject and one victim performed in experiment. After pretext, subjects drew slips of paper from hat, which determined who would be the teacher and who would be the learner. The subject was assured there would be no permanent damage to tissue. The learning task was paired-associated, and the response was given by a switch. If at any point, the subject showed unwillingness to go on the experimenter responded: 1. Please Continue. 2. The experiment requires that you continue. 3. It is absolutely essential that you continue. 4. You have no other choice, you must go on. Dependent Measure The primary dependent measure for any subject is the maximum shock administer, before he refuse to go any further. This tend to vary from 0 (for subject who refused to administer first shock) to 30 (subject who administer highest shock). Following the experiment, the subject were interviewed with open-ended questions. Results Twenty Six subjects obeyed experiment commands fully and to the highest shock proceeding to punish the victim. Fourteen subjects refuses to participate at some point in the experiment. Refer to table 1 for details. Table 1 Designation of Voltage |Number of Subjects who Stopped at this Volts | |Intense Shock: 300 |5 | |Extreme Intense Shock: 315 |4 | |Extreme Intense Shock: 330 |2 | |Extreme Intense Shock: 345 |1 | |Extreme Intense Shock: 360 |1 | |Danger: Severe Shock 375 |1 | Discussion The experiment yielded two findings; they were surprising. The first concerns the sheer strength of obedient tendencies in this situations. The procedure created extreme levels of nervous tension in some subjects. Profuse sweating, trembling, and stuttering were typical expressions of this emotional disturbance. One unexpected sign of tension- yet to be explained- was the regular occurrence of nervous laughter, which in some subjects developed into uncontrollable occurrence. The following feature of the experiment go in explaining high amount of obedience observed in these situations. 1. The experiment takes place in reputable university, and the importance of background authority is now being studied by series of experiment outside of Yale University. 2. The experiment had worth purpose- advancement of knowledge about learning and memory. 3. The subject has an impression, that victim has voluntarily submitted to authority system of the experiment. The subject participate without any qualification, thus he feels obligated to complete experiment. 4. The subject has also entered experiment voluntary and he receives himself under obligation to complete experiment. 5. Some method of procedure strengthen the subject’s sense of obligation to the experimenter. 6. From subject’s standpoint, the fact that he is a teacher and other person is victim is purely a chance consequence. 7. There is vagueness of expectation concerning what a psychologist may require of his subject, and he is overstepping acceptable limits. 8. The subject are assured shock are painful, but not dangerous. 9. Through shock level 20, the victim continue to provide answer to the signal box. This indicates to subject, victim is willing to continue. 10. The subjects is placed in position in which he must respond to the competing demands of two persons: the experimenter and the victim. 11. The experimenter seeks an abstract scientific datum; the victim cries out the relief from physical suffering caused by subject’s action. 12. The experiment gives subject little time for reflection. 13. The conflict stem from the opposition of two deeply ingrained behavior dispositions: first, the disposition not to harm other people, and second the tendency to obey those whom we perceive to be legitimates authorities. Word Count: 1009

Battle of Crecy in the The Hundred Years War

Battle of Crecy in the The Hundred Years War The Battle of Crà ©cy was fought August 26, 1346, during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). Largely a dynastic struggle for the French throne, the conflict began following the death of Philip IV and his sons, Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. This ended the Capetian Dynasty which had ruled France since 987.   As no direct male heir lived, Edward III of England, Philip IVs grandson by his daughter Isabella, pressed his claim to the throne. This was rejected by the French nobility who preferred Philip IVs nephew, Philip of Valois. The War Begins Crowned Philip  VI in 1328, he called for Edward to do homage to him for the valuable  fief of Gascony. Though initially unwilling to this,  Edward relented and accepted Philip as King of France in 1331 in return for continued  control over Gascony. By doing so, he surrendered his rightful claim  to the throne. In 1337, Philip VI revoked Edward IIIs control of Gascony and commenced raiding the English coast. In response, Edward reasserted his claims to the French throne and began building alliances with the nobles of Flanders and the Low Countries.   In 1340, Edward scored a decisive naval victory at Sluys which gave England control of the Channel for the duration of the war. This was followed by an invasion of the Low Countries and an abortive siege of Cambrai. After plundering Picardy, Edward withdrew back to England to raise funds for future campaigns as well as to deal with the Scots who had used his absence to mount a series of raids across the border. Six years later, having assembled around 15,000 men and 750 ships at Portsmouth, he again planned to invade France.   A Return to France Sailing for Normandy, Edward landed on the Cotentin Peninsula that July. Quickly capturing Caen on July 26, he moved east towards the Seine. Alerted that King Philip VI was assembling a large army in Paris, Edward turned north and began moving along the coast. Pressing on, he crossed the Somme after winning the Battle of Blanchetaque on August 24. Tired from their endeavors, the English army encamped near the Forest of Crà ©cy. Eager to defeat the English and angry that he had failed to trap them between the Seine and Somme, Philip raced towards Crà ©cy with his men. The English Command Alerted to the approach of the French army, Edward deployed his men along a ridge between the villages of Crà ©cy and Wadicourt. Dividing his army, he assigned command of the right division to his sixteen-year old son Edward, the Black Prince with assistance from the Earls of Oxford and Warwick, as well as Sir John Chandos. The left division was led by the Earl of Northampton, while Edward, commanding from a vantage point in a windmill, retained leadership of the reserve. These divisions were supported by large numbers of archers equipped with the English longbow. Armies Commanders: England Edward IIIEdward, the Black Prince12,000-16,000 men France Philip VI20,000-80,000 men Preparing for Battle While waiting for the French to arrive, the English busied themselves by digging ditches and laying out caltrops in front of their position. Advancing north from Abbeyville, the lead elements of Philips army arrived near the English lines around mid-day on August 26. Scouting the enemy position, they recommended to Philip that they encamp, rest, and wait for the entire army to arrive. While Philip agreed with this approach, he was overruled by his nobles who wished to attack the English without delay. Quickly forming for battle, the French did not wait for the bulk of their infantry or supply train to arrive. The French Advance Advancing with Antonio Doria and Carlo Grimaldis Genoese crossbowmen in the lead, the French knights followed with lines led by the Duke D’Alencon, Duke of Lorraine, and Count of Blois, while Philip commanded the rearguard. Moving to the attack, the crossbowmen fired a series of volleys at the English. These proved ineffective as a brief thunderstorm before the battle had wet and slackened the crossbowstrings. The English archers on the other hand had simply untied their bowstrings during the storm. Death from Above This coupled with the longbows ability to fire every five seconds gave the English archers a dramatic advantage over the crossbowmen who could only get off one to two shots per minute. The Genoese position was worsened by the fact that in the rush to battle their pervises (shields to hide behind while reloading) had not been brought forward. Coming under devastating fire from Edwards archers, the Genoese began withdrawing. Angered by the crossbowmens retreat, the French knights fired insults at them and even cut several down. Charging forward, the French front lines fell into confusion as they collided with the retreating Genoese. As the two bodies of men tried to move past each other they came under fire from the English archers and five early cannon (some sources debate their presence). Continuing the attack, the French knights were forced to negotiate the slope of the ridge and the man-made obstacles. Cut down in large numbers by the archers, the felled knights and their horses blocked the advance of those to the rear. During this time, Edward received a message from his son requesting aid. Upon learning that the younger Edward was healthy, the king refused stating â€Å"I am confident he will repel the enemy without my help, and Let the boy win his spurs. As evening approached the English line held, repelling sixteen French charges. Each time, the English archers brought down the attacking knights. With darkness falling, a wounded Philip, recognizing he had been defeated, ordered a retreat and fell back to the castle at La Boyes. Aftermath The Battle of Crà ©cy was one of the greatest English victories of the Hundred Years War and established the superiority of the longbow against mounted knights. In the fighting, Edward lost between 100-300 killed, while Philip suffered around 13,000-14,000 (some sources indicate it may have been as high as 30,000). Among the French losses were the heart of the nations nobility including the Duke of Lorraine, Count of Blois, and the Count of Flanders, as well as John, King of Bohemia and the King of Majorca. In addition eight other counts and three archbishops were slain. In the wake of the battle, the Black Prince paid tribute to the nearly blind King John of Bohemia, who had fought valiantly before being slain, by taking his shield and making it his own. Having earned his spurs, the Black Prince became one of his fathers best field commanders and won a stunning victory at Poitiers in 1356. Following the victory at Crà ©cy, Edward continued north and laid siege to Calais. The city fell the next year and became a key English base for the remainder of the conflict.