This session consisted of a participatory workshop in which three groups read and discussed a different classic experiment from Social Psychology.
1. The Solomon Asch experiment about social influence and conformity, the way that we often go along with what others think/ say/ do either because it’s easier or we doubt ourselves. This is not a bad thing in itself. We depend on others for reality checking. People suffering from delusions cannot take on board what others have to say. They insist they’re right and everyone else is wrong. The power of social influence is the glue that holds social groups together. Yet sometimes following the crowd can lead us astray…
2. The Milgram studies into obedience and the power of legitimate authority. Experts thought that participants in these studies would not go along with what they were told to do but in more than 65% of cases the individual participant was obedient to authority. There are lots of examples from history that people can do terrible things when they are following orders.
3. The Stanford Prison Experiment run by Philip Zimbardo. This experiment was about the power of social roles. It demonstrates that if the situation is powerful enough it overwhelms the individuals capacity to think and act independently based on their own morals and values. Zimbardo calls this ‘The Power of the Situation’. There’s a video made about the experiment called The Power of the Situation.
You will find lots of videos on YouTube about the above famous experiments. However, emerging from this research is an understanding of evil that is very well expressed in Zimbardo’s TED Talk:
martinacarroll 