MUSIC TRIGGERS MEMORY
Before you read my story, I would like for you to listen to
this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvQvDb1I7A&app=desktop
I’ve been listening to this song since 2009. I’ve always found it fascinating in a bizarre kind of way. At first, I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics. I like the almost psychedelic music and tone to it. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I carefully listened to the lyrics. Much to my surprise, I knew exactly what the song was about. I knew about the story behind it. A friend of mine’s family member was a participant in one of the original experiments. This blew my mind in so many directions. The attraction to the song made sense to me now. I connected the missing link. I’ve read so many of the articles and stories about it and it goes something like this..
A psychologist at Yale University, Stanly Milgram. In the 1960s conducted experiments on obedience. An individual’s conscience can be overridden by a situation, he confirmed.
From all social classes, people from different backgrounds
participated in Milgram’s studies after they agreed to receiving a small hourly
compensation. They thought the study was
on learning and memory. A doctor in a
white coat instructed them to act as teachers by reading a list
of associations to a learner who was out of sight but could hear. As soon as the learner got an association
wrong, the teacher would shock him with an electric shock, increasing the
voltage with each answer. The first shock
was labeled SLIGHT SHOCK- 15 volts. After
the last shock, it was labeled DANGER SEVERE SHOCK-450 volts.
What they did not know, Milgram wanted to see how much pain the
teacher would inflict on the learner. This was the real
experiment. One of the participants, an
actor, cried that he could not stand the pain.
At 300 volts, he refused to participate, there was silence at 330 volts. It turned out that 65% of the teachers reached
electrical shocks to 450 volts regardless of knowledge that the participant might have mild heart condition.
The white coated experimenter encouraged the teachers to
continue despite their moral reservations, despite their sweating and biting
lips.
According to Milgram's research, ordinary people can be persuaded
to commit acts of violence simply by being in the presence of authority
figures. Milgram also discovered that
the more psychological distance the subjects had from the victim, more likely
they were to perform the acts.
Later experiments with both men and women, despite of adult age,
social ethnicity, level of education, and financial standing, followed in
similar results.
Where was all this found? In a society that values independent thinking and free will.
Candido's earlier blog post "Lyrics are Powerful" definitely echoes here :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for referencing Stanley Milgram's experiment here. I remember discussing this psychological experiment when I was a college student.
Your topic is extremely timely at this moment in time for IS101-3012, Fall 2022 as A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer facilitates students in transitioning from simply following click-by-click tutorials to thinking and producing results on their own.
A7 Mail Merge further accentuates a student's independence by giving students a daily scenario with hints, requirements, and even a wizard in Microsoft Word to communicate with Microsoft Excel.
Will a student be able to demonstrate their self-sufficiency in digital literacy? How will a student fare after our semester together ends?
I don't know if I liked the experiment preformed. It sounded a bit harsh to me. The results were pretty interesting though! Very interesting read.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about shock therapy. In my experience, specific mindsets are embedded at a young age without knowing it's happening. Certain behaviors come out from a person when it gets triggered due to situations/circumstances. For instance, if a young child is accustomed to seeing parents fight but had to stay quiet during the time it happened, it develops a certain mindset. Sometimes the results to this situation is when the child gets older, fight or flight mode is developed differently. Can shock therapy override deeply embedded mind sets or override the inner conscience that has been impacted by certain events in life?
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to say, but I need to check something out and get my own thoughts started. Of course, thank you for sharing, which is so informative every time.
ReplyDeleteYour post was very informative. The experiment sounds really harsh, but now I'm interested in reading more about Stanly Milgram’s experiment.
ReplyDeleteWow, I haven't listened to that song specifically, but I shockingly had a sense of nostalgia and familiarity with the tune. (No pun intended on the 'shockingly'...!!! I just realized that after reading about the obedience experiment) The experiment itself is questionable because I felt a little uncomfortable imagining myself in that situation, but it's so interesting to learn how so many studies were done to obtain some types of result and findings.
ReplyDeleteThat experiment was explained in my communications class as a means of persuasion when a person is in an authority status people will listen to them.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think that biologically it makes sense not to question the established authority figures in a "group"
ReplyDeleteThis is why I always check for logical fallacies and whether or not it aligns with my own moral conduct, especially when the information comes from "authorities".
ReplyDeleteIts crazy knowing the fact that this went on in the earlier 60's I am guessing but then again we still use this today. On animals as form of shock collars or shock sticks. I have used this before training a dog but it was from a program that I bought and when I found out it was a shock collar I never took my dog there. I lost my deposit but felt so much better not going.
ReplyDeletePeople never cease to amaze me. To knowingly inflict pain on another person because someone else told them to, it just blows my mind.
ReplyDeleteI just watched this experiment in Psychology this past week. We talked about how the people knowing they would inflict major pain or possible death still followed through with the instructions. The song is perfect for this experiment. I am going to show Professor Gruner this song. Great post.
ReplyDelete