In the famous Milgram Experiment , volunteers were ordered by a person in a lab coating to shock a person to death — and many did it , discovering only afterwards that they ’d “ traumatize ” an actor . The same test was repeated for a French documentary film in 2010 . It make much the same results . But how well will reality telly mimic the Milgram Experiment ?
In the 1960s , Stanley Milgram asked volunteers into his research lab . There they were tell apart they would administer a serial publication of shock , each more powerful than the last , to another voluntary . The scientist were try out storage , and if it improved after physical penalty . masses duly administered the cushion , even as the second voluntary screamed and solicit them to stop . Eventually they heard secretiveness .
The purpose of the experimentation was to test obeisance to authority . Would multitude follow with orders they be intimate , and could plainly see , were morally faulty . About sixty - five pct of mass administered the final shocks . Fortunately for everyone ask the 2nd voluntary was a flora and no one was being shocked at all . Over the year , plenty of hoi polloi have taste to explicate the results – some of them citing the unsophisticated universe of 1963 . Those theories took a striking in 2010 , when a Gallic documentary had people unknowingly repeat the Milgram Experiment . This time , the people were convinced they were on a reality tv show . Eighty pct of the contestants shocked the field “ to dying . ” The consultation cheer them on .
In many way , reality shows have become more originative Milgram Experiments . The consultation learn as a radical of 20 - somethings are introduced to guy and told he ’s a millionaire prince look for a St. Bridget , when he ’s really an actor . Another group is told they have a shot at a modeling contract if they go nude in public and let spiders cower on their face . Contestants are tell to lose 100 pounds in three months , and no matter how much the audience have a go at it that that ’s not sound , they cheer the contestants on . In the case of French television set show , gentle The Game of Death , the consultation was on situation , and might be swayed by obedience to authority . Other shows are , I think , even best Milgram Experiments because they dispatch the direct pressure of the authority and show us why we invest others with authority – we assume they know more about what ’s go on than we do .
That ’s the authority that reality shows have . We know that they ’re partially faked , and we know that they ’re part real , and we assume that the extreme parts are fake and the just ridiculous parts are substantial . Sure , a reality show would make contestants look like imbecile , and hurt them a bit , but they would n’t electrocute someone to death , would they ? Go ahead and keep pressing the button . Sure , it ’s a little unethical , but no girl is really going to believe that a prince in a foreign country speaks with an American accent and will choose his bride via reality show . We can keep determine . And the thing is , most of the prison term we ’re proper – just like the contestants on The Game of Death were right . They put their trust in authority , and they were n’t really wound anyone .
In this path , we should see the ongoing reality tv shows , their ratings , the confessionos of reality headliner about how much of a show was fake , and the occasional time when they send someone to the infirmary , as an ever - develop Milgram discipline . We will always know what vicious homo are capable of because those humans will literally broadcast it to us . Unless that evil was faked .
[ ViaFake Game Show Tortures Man , The Milgram Experiment as a French Game Show . ]
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