A Psychological Experiment: The Abuse Of Power

906 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Brief summary of milgram experiment

Ever Since the development of societies, governments have been put into place and a sense of power has existed. People have gone to extreme ends in order to obtain and keep their positions of power. This is seen in ancient history with the assassination of Julius Caesar, and in recent history the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. These are examples of the psychology of power taking advantage of people. All people who are given an ounce of power are bound to abuse it when put in a political position instead of protecting people’s rights. The abuse of power was demonstrated in the a psychological experiment called the Milgram Experiment. This was an experiment that had authoritative figures tell subjects to deliver a shock to what they thought was a real person. The subjects complied to giving shocks to a point of killing a person (Hollander 56). When the subjects refused to shock a person anymore, the people leading the experiment …show more content…

These experiments paralel what has occurred in political history in relation to the abuse of power. Such government include that of China in the time of Tiananmen Square. This demonstrates the abuse of power because the Chinese government went to extremes in order to conceal the truth of Tiananmen Square. They censored the internet, books, and all articles to practically erase it from history. A different abuse of power was also seen in Nazi Germany. The people of Germany were almost brainwashed to believing in Hitler’s ideals in relation to the Holocaust. This was made possible through propaganda and Hitler’s manipulation of Orwellian speech. His abuse of power was built on convincing people that everything he did was always correct. Both instances in history are similar to 1984. China’s controlling government and Hitler’s persuasive nature is similar to The Ministry of Truth where the people change records to make Big Brother always seem right (Orwell

Show More
Related

  • Essay Comparing Frankenstein And Harrison Bergeron

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is power to a human? As time has gone by, there have been many forms of control and influence in the world. Many strive to achieve total rule over a society or group of individuals. Yet the question still presents itself to the average man. Why does man desire power so greatly even though there is visible trouble that follows? Shelley’s Frankenstein, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, whether through the situation or the character themselves, depict the evils and hardships due to an imbalance and poor management of power.

    Read More

  • Comparing Power In Animal Farm And The Wave By Todd Strasser

    1588 Words  | 4 Pages

    The corruptive nature of power can be observed in both novels Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945) and The Wave by Todd Strasser (1981). In the wise words of Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Phrase Finder, 2012) The simple nature of mankind is to want power and when man achieves this, he gets addicted, wants more and thus becomes corrupt. This exploitation of dominance relates to when the dictator loses his moral values and abuses power purely for his own benefit and loses sight of what the initial goals were. Even the best intentions, such as those that were only just formed in Animal Farm and The Wave, can be distorted by the basic human instinct of selfishness

    Read More

  • The Perils of Obedience, by Stanley Milgram

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    If a person of authority ordered you inflict a 15 to 400 volt electrical shock on another innocent human being, would you follow your direct orders? That is the question that Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University tested in the 1960’s. Most people would answer “no,” to imposing pain on innocent human beings but Milgram wanted to go further with his study. Writing and Reading across the Curriculum holds a shortened edition of Stanley Milgram’s “The Perils of Obedience,” where he displays an eye-opening experiment that tests the true obedience of people under authority figures. He observes that most people go against their natural instinct to never harm innocent humans and obey the extreme and dangerous instructions of authority figures. Milgram is well aware of his audience and organization throughout his article, uses quotes directly from his experiment and connects his research with a real world example to make his article as effective as possible.

    Read More

  • The Milgram Experiment: The Relationship Between Obedience And Authority

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a series of experiments conducted from 1960 to 1963, American psychologist Stanley Milgram, sought to examine the relationship between obedience and authority in order to understand how Nazi doctors were able to carry out experiments on prisoners during WWII. While there are several theories about Milgram’s results, philosopher Ruwen Ogien uses the experiment as grounds for criticizing virtue ethics as a moral theory. In chapter 9 of Human Kindness and The Smell of Warm Croissant, Ogien claims that “what determines behavior is not character but other factors tied to situation” (Ogien 120). The purpose of this essay is not to interpret the results of the Milgram experiments. Instead this essay serves to argue why I am not persuaded by Ogien’s

    Read More

  • A Shot To The Heart Analysis

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    Power can be defined as the ability to influence or outright control the behavior of people. A variety of different things can drive power, including both knowledge and experience. Power in most cases is needed to establish authority. In today’s country, the United States government has a lot of power. It has so much power that even American citizens are beginning to complain about it. Having all this power and authority has allowed the government to make decisions quicker. However, by making decisions faster, some mistakes can be made and innocent people can be convicted. This point is directly exemplified when using two New Yorker articles, “Surviving Solitary” and ‘A Shot to The Heart.” Both articles consist of results produced quite

    Read More

  • Stanley Milgram Set of Reading on Obedience

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    Why so many people obey when they feel coerced? Social psychologist Stanley Milgram made an experiment to find the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded that people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to cooperate with the authority, even when acting against their own better judgment and desires. Milgram’s experiment illustrates that people's reluctance to confront those who abuse power. The point of the experiment was to see how far a person will proceed in a concrete and measurable situation in which he is ordered to inflict increasing pain on a protesting victim, at what point will the subject refuse to obey the experimenter. One main question of the experiment was that how far the participant will comply with the experimenter’s instructions before refusing to carry out the actions required of him?

    Read More

  • Theme Of Power In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    1262 Words  | 3 Pages

    One needs to be honest, know right from wrong and have respect for others and without these basic principles do not expect anything positive to come from a person. He or she will abuse power when it is given, as they does not perceive it as wrong. In Ken Keseys’ One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest both Nurse Ratched and McMurphy abuse their power over the other patients in the ward. They have different ways and motive but it can be narrowed down to personal gain. Power is easily abused when the person possessing it is never challenged, actively seeks it and feels entitled to it. It could be said that the abusers are fully aware of what they are doing, but although aware of it, that does not mean they are doing it just because they can. The distinction between the use and abuse of power is a matter of perception. Abusers generally do not perceive themselves as abusing, merely using it to pursue their goals.

    Read More

  • Uses of Power

    1625 Words  | 4 Pages

    As one of the many uses of power, it is prominent and obvious that it is used with the aim of hurting or punishing an individual or a group of beings. With this particular intention, power has been evident to cause devastation in many. One evident example of such abuse of power is seen in Joy Kogawa’s Obasan. Upon the horrific Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, a temporary stamp was engraved on the faces of Japanese Canadians as a threat to the country. Based on a very prejudice basis, Japanese Canadians, mostly in Western Canada, were sent to work camps in which they were deprived of many rights. From this event in the novel, it is clear that injustice was served to the unworthy. The misuse of political power and make unjust decisions was evident in Kogawa’s Obasan. Another such example of the abuse of power is seen in Mistry’s A Fine Balance. In the novel, the power of the police force and the power of military were used in order to deprive many poor from their homes and ignorantly dump them into fruitless work camps. Just the same, use of political power is also dominant in the governments of North America and has been spotted to affect masses. For example, the decision of the U.S. government to introduce a bill, SOPA, has been obviously s...

    Read More

  • How Is Elizabeth Proctor's Guilt Shown In The Crucible

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    The desire for power is prevalent in our day to day life from wanting control over little insignificant aspects to control over others. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is

    Read More

  • How Does Power Abuse Power In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    When somebody abuses a great amount of power, that individual can lose all of their power. The struggle against someone who abuses power is perfectly depicted in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. When someone abuses their power, they can impose certain feelings and actions on others. If someone tries to conceal their personality. Finally, if someone abuses power and is constantly challenged by another individual who is trying to take the power abuser’s power away from them, the power abuser will always be frightened of his or her challenger.

    Read More

  • Abuses of Power: Lord of the Flies, and I Only Came To Use the Phone

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    As shown in literature, corruption and the abuse of power is an ongoing discussion. When it comes down to the point where people are being used and abused physically and psychologically, it creates a hostile environment for both the subjects and the abuser. As represented in the two similar texts Lord Of the Flies and “I Only Came to use the Phone”, corrupted authority and abuse of power usually end up leading to the collapse of a society or a world of chaos and violence.

    Read More

  • The Power of Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do.  We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth.  Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn.  When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day.  In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast of the Three Faces of Power

    1832 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some theorists believe that ‘power is everywhere: not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere… power is not an institution, nor a structure, nor possession. It is the name we give to a complex strategic situation in a particular society. (Foucault, 1990: 93) This is because power is present in each individual and in every relationship. It is defined as the ability of a group to get another group to take some form of desired action, usually by consensual power and sometimes by force. (Holmes, Hughes &Julian, 2007) There have been a number of differing views on ‘power over’ the many years in which it has been studied. Theorist such as Anthony Gidden in his works on structuration theory attempts to integrate basic structural analyses and agency-centred traditions. According to this, people are free to act, but they must also use and replicate fundamental structures of power by and through their own actions. Power is wielded and maintained by how one ‘makes a difference’ and based on their decisions and actions, if one fails to exercise power, that is to ‘make a difference’ then power is lost. (Giddens: 1984: 14) However, more recent theorists have revisited older conceptions including the power one has over another and within the decision-making processes, and power, as the ability to set specific, wanted agendas. To put it simply, power is the ability to get others to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. In the political arena, therefore, power is the ability to make or influence decisions that other people are bound by.

    Read More

  • Corruption & Destruction by Power

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    Power acts as a catalyst in a society which is vulnerable to mass hysteria and causes individuals to favor unjust trials for personal gain.

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Relationships and the Impact of Power

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    This conclusively demonstrates that lust for power can drive people to do the cruelest things in order to capture it. Works Cited The Tragedy of Macbeth William Shakespeare

    Read More

More about A Psychological Experiment: The Abuse Of Power

Open Document