Community | March 17, 2010 | 9 comments

Torture 'Game Show' Draws Nazi Comparison

source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100317/twl-torture-game-show-draws-nazi-compari-3fd0ae9.html

Image
Mcellie
The game show was an experiment in France to show how far the presence authority and crowd moods can control violent behaviour in individuals.

In the show 80 volunteer contestants thought they were taking part in a game show pilot, since there was a professional studio, crews and a host present. The contestant would ask question to another person (an actor) and would shock him with 460 volts when an answer was incorrect.

"contestants followed the orders of the presenter, as well as chants of "Punishment" from a studio audience who also believed the game was real."

The actor would scream "Let me go" until he would go silent and appear dead. This happened with 80% of the volunteers. While only 16 people refused to take part and walked off.

"Since I was a little girl, I have always asked myself why the Nazis did it," she said. "How could they obey such orders? And there I was, obeying them myself."

"I was worried about the contestant," said another player. "At the same time, I was afraid to spoil the programme."

The results are worrying if hatred towards religious and minority groups increase, since it shows violent discrimination can still be manipulated.
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics
  2. tags:
    Milgram,  France 2
  3.     
    |

9 comments // Torture 'Game Show' Draws Nazi Comparison

  • Phoenix234
    • 0
      Phoenix234  

    • im pretty sure they were banned from repeating the study, as several of the participants suffered from psychological problems after the study

      much like the stanford prison experiment.

      i was sure they werent allowed to repeat it?

    • 1 year ago
  • Oceangirl
    • 0
      Oceangirl  

    • The Milgram study and Stanford Prison Experiment helped shape ethical guide lines within the American Psychological Association. Due to ethical concerns these two experiments can't be repeated and for good reason!

    • 1 year ago
  • imunbalanced
    • 0
      imunbalanced  

    • I like how the article says it "draws parallels" from Milgram's study. Obviously, it wasn't carbon copied, but it was studying the same issues regarding authority inspired by Nazi torture. I wonder about the ethics behind this. You have to get informed consent from experiment participants.

    • 1 year ago
  • Capicuaman
  • Phoenix234
  • BlueApple
    • 0
      BlueApple  

    • This is crazy.
      Sat here i can say i definately wouldn't go ahead with it, but with the cameras and set etc i would feel like it was okay and safe as they wouldn't do that on telelvision or whatever. it's very manipulative..

    • 1 year ago
  • smurph25
    • 0
      smurph25  

    • I'm sure that's going to draw complaints, also 8:35pm? For an extreme game show spoof, I would've aired it at about 10pm.

    • 1 year ago
  • PocketCup
  • Capicuaman
more from Community:
from the community

top videos