Life skills lecture#1

1. Agenda: 8/21/14
• —-Seating Charts—-
• 1. Recap ‘Little Dog’ article with a discussion focus on Paul Slovic’s
experiments and the reacts of the test groups.
• 2. Lecture #1 Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo
• 3. Film: Basic Instincts, Milgram revisited
• HWK: Please have these ready on Friday in the following order.
• Lecture #1 (Milgram), Vocab handout, Lost Dog questions, and
syllabus.
• All work needs to be done in pen (blue or black) or typed. No
pencil.

2. Stanley Milgram and the obedience experiment
• Why is it so many people obey when they feel coerced?
• Stanley Milgram researched the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded
people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative--even when
acting against their own better judgment and desires. Milgram’s classic yet
controversial experiment illustrates people's reluctance to confront those who
abuse power.
• Shock levels were labeled from 15 to 450 volts.
• Results from the experiment. Sixty-five percent (65%) of the ‘teachers’ were
willing to progress to the maximum voltage level.

3. Philip Zimbardo and the Stanford Prison Experiment
• An ad was placed in the local paper asking for college students to
participate in a psychological experiment on the effects of prison life.
• Students were given a mental screening before acceptance to check
for normal readings and reactions.
• 24 people total; all males. Divided by a coin flip (half guards, half
prisoners)
• Jail was in the basement of the Stanford psychology department

4. Philip Zimbardo and the Stanford Prison Experiment
• Prisoners were arrested in public, charged at the
police station and brought to “Stanford County
Jail” for processing
• They were blindfolded in their cells, temporarily.
• Each prisoner was stripped naked, searched and
deloused.
• Prisoners were then given a uniform, a number
and only referred to by number; hair was later
shaved off as a punishment
• Guards were not given any specific rules, only
told to maintain order