Moral Conflict

Question 1

Milgram: baseline condition

Answer 1

65%
- percent of participants who kept on shocking
- saw learner get hooked up + teacher got test shocked
- similar results with female participants

Question 2

Milgram: dubious institutional context

Answer 2

48%
- run-down office building off-campus rather than on-campus
- place did not have institutional credentials of Yale University

Question 3

Milgram: Learner in the same room

Answer 3

40%

Question 4

Milgram: Learner even closer and physical contact required to shock

Answer 4

30%
- teacher held down learner so they get shocked properly

Question 5

Milgram: Experimenter in another room

Answer 5

21%
- communicate through telephone

Question 6

Milgram: two peers disobey

Answer 6

10%
- 4 subjects total, but only 1 is real, others are actors
- 2 fake subjects stop during 100 volts

Question 7

Moral dilemma

Answer 7

• if the tendency to comply with authority were the only psychological force operating in the situation, all subjects would have continued to the end
• if sympathetic concern for the victim were the exclusive force, all subjects would have calmly defied the experimenter
• instead, both obedient and defiant outcomes, accompanied by extreme tension
• conflict develops between not harming others and obeying others who are in authority

Question 8

do the morally right thing or do the different morally right thing?

Answer 8

• moral principle: Don’t hurt people + Evidence of Learner’s pain –> Morally appropriate behaviour: Stop shocking –> Moral conflict –> Stress –> What to do?

AND

• moral principle: Obey authority + Experimenter says continue –> Morally appropriate behaviour: Continue shocking –> Moral conflict –> Stress –> What to do?

Question 9

Moral foundations: Dubious institutional context

Answer 9

• reduces authority
  (experimenter is not from Yale)
  (not vested with apparent credibility because outside of Yale)

Question 10

Moral foundations: Learner in the same room

Answer 10

• increase care

Question 11

Moral foundations: Experimenter in another room

Answer 11

• reduces authority
  (don’t feel like they’re watching you, easier to exit situation)

Question 12

Moral foundations: Two peers disobey

Answer 12

• reduces authority
• conform to other people’s belief
  (conform to norms, which are invisible forms of authority)

Question 13

Milgram: Role Permutations

Answer 13

messing around with the roles

Question 14

Role Permutations: Learner demands to be shocked, but experimenter says stop

Answer 14

0%

Question 15

Role Permutations: Two experimenters issue conflicting commands

Answer 15

0%
- follow which authority figure that is consistent with what you think is morally correct
- upholding obeying authority because one experimenter is telling you to stop

Question 16

Role Permutations: No actual experimenter, but another subject acts as the experimenter

Answer 16

20%
- ordinary guy had no authority, but gained some after being experimenter

Question 17

Role Permutations: Experimenter is the Learner and another subject acts as the Experimenter

Answer 17

0%
- experimenter still has authority even though he became the learner

Question 18

Role Permutations: 2 Experimenters; One is the Learner; conflicting commands

Answer 18

65%
- experimenters willing to do experiment so subject continues
- slipperiness of authority