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PROFESSOR: OK, so up until now
in many ways we've thought

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about people as individuals--

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how they see, how they remember,
their personality,

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things you can measure by
IQ tests, if they have

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psychopathology or not.

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We've primarily focused on
people as an individual agents

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in the world.

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And for this lecture and for the
next lecture, we're going

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00:00:56,370 --> 00:00:59,780
to flip over and think about
people as they interact with

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00:00:59,780 --> 00:01:00,840
other people.

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And all the way back from 1962,
here's an example--

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and you know so much
from your life--

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of how powerfully we're
influenced by other people in

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our behaviors.

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So this is a story of
elevator rules.

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You guys know elevator
rules, right?

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You get in an elevator, what are
you supposed to be so you

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don't make other people
uncomfortable or where they

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don't make you?

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AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

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PROFESSOR: Yeah, which
way you're facing.

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Not too close in space.

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If there's only two of you and
the person huddles right next

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to you, you go, hmm.

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OK.

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So anyway here we go.

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So I was a graduate student in
brain and cognitive science

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and I got minimally exposed
to social psychology.

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I was actually a teaching
assistant.

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00:01:48,860 --> 00:01:50,930
I must have heard something
about it.

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00:01:50,930 --> 00:01:52,830
But it wasn't until I was
teaching at Stanford which is

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00:01:52,830 --> 00:01:56,140
full of famous social
psychologists and I was

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00:01:56,140 --> 00:01:57,800
hearing them give their
introductory psychology

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00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,770
lectures that I got amazed by
what social psychologists have

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00:02:01,770 --> 00:02:03,720
discovered about human nature.

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00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,550
And maybe because I was exposed
to it in one shot, it

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00:02:06,550 --> 00:02:09,789
really changed for me personally
how I try to think

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00:02:09,789 --> 00:02:11,240
about people from that
day forward.

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So let's see if it
does it for you.

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00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,290
And in many ways, we're going
to do today the core, core

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famous, most famous things
in psychology--

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that the Stanford Zimbardo
prison experiment, the Milgram

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obedience experiment.

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And a theme you'll see is how
funny we are as humans in our

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desire to want to fit in.

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So what is social psychology?

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The scientific study of the
way in which our thoughts,

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00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,460
feelings, and behaviors are
influenced by the real or

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imagined presence
of other people.

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So it's how we relate
to other people.

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And to a certain extent, if you
compare it to things like

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linguistics or other aspects of
psychology, social things

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have seems weakish.

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But people have been thinking
in the last decade, more and

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more, that maybe many things
that make humans humans have

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been pulled by powerful social
relations that occur

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in groups of humans.

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And so for example, looking
across primate species--

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just across primates--

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here is the average size
of the social group.

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Here's the average size
of the neocortex.

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And it's a pretty good fit.

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And so you could think back
in the course of examples.

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For example, the infant who's
willing to crawl across a

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dangerous visual cliff if the
mother has a positive facial

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expression.

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Risking injury, or worse,
because you have a social

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queue that says it's OK.

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And you're just an infant
interpreting that.

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So more and more, the thought
that many of the abilities we

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have, how we work together, how
we communicate together,

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are driven by our fundamental
social character.

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And so we'll talk today about
the power of the situation.

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This is a big idea in social
psychology is that people's

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behavior can be phenomenally
altered by the situation

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they're in.

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And we'll talk about
attribution--

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how we decide whether a person
behaves a certain way because

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00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,620
of their character or the
situation they're in--

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the fundamental attribution
error, conformity, compliance,

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00:04:08,250 --> 00:04:10,510
obedience, and bystanders.

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There are so many experiments
here that amaze me and that

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are still completely relevant
today, and I'll

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convince you of that.

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So I think we engage in all
the time as humans as

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interpreting the actions
and words of others.

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Why did somebody do something.

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Right?

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00:04:24,890 --> 00:04:27,570
That fills our lives-- our
families, our teachers, our

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00:04:27,570 --> 00:04:28,620
friends, or coworkers--

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00:04:28,620 --> 00:04:31,190
why did somebody do something
or say something.

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Why is that person looking at
me friendly across the room?

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So the causal attribution--

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what is driving that
person's thoughts?

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What's in their mind
that's making them

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to behave that way?

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And there's at least two kinds
of the explanations.

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One of them is character.

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So personality psychology
is all about that.

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The character of the person is
making them behave that way

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because they're outgoing
or because

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they're shy or whatever.

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00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,030
So Jeremiah helps the elderly
person across the street

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because he's a really
nice guy.

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00:05:00,950 --> 00:05:03,060
Sven had a hard time solving the
puzzle because he's kind

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00:05:03,060 --> 00:05:04,460
of a dummy.

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00:05:04,460 --> 00:05:05,500
Tamae gave money to the boy.

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00:05:05,500 --> 00:05:07,140
Boy is she nice and generous.

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That's the personality
predisposition interpretation.

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So that's the who
she is or he is.

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Or they're behaving that way
because they're in a

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particular situation.

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So Jeremiah helped the elderly
man across the street because

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his friends are breaking in
to the apartment the guy's

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00:05:26,020 --> 00:05:27,320
leaving behind.

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00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:28,890
Or there's another person
there and he's trying to

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00:05:28,890 --> 00:05:31,850
impress that person what
a swell guy he is.

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Sven had a hard time solving the
puzzle because it was an

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impossible puzzle.

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00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,180
He didn't get nearly
enough sleep--

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the situation.

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She gave money to the boy
because he's the drug dealer.

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He's a courier running--

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whatever.

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It's the situation, OK?

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So you pick it, but all of a
sudden the interpretation

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completely changes as
to what's going on.

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It's about character
versus situation.

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So where does the behavior
come from--

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00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,670
the dispositions of an
individual or the situation

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00:06:00,670 --> 00:06:01,920
they're in?

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00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,270
Personality psychologists
focus on this.

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00:06:04,270 --> 00:06:06,920
Social psychologists
focus on this.

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And they will argue that this
dominates everything.

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This dominates everything.

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Not the only thing, but it
dominates everything.

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So let's consider them
in one other way.

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So let's say that you are late
for an appointment with me.

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00:06:22,090 --> 00:06:24,480
So what do I start to think as
I'm sitting there waiting for

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00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,200
you and you don't email
me, you don't call me.

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00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:30,720
You might think, well, this
person is a bit inconsiderate,

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00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:32,820
a bit disorganized,
a bit unmotivated.

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It would not be a good idea,
for example, to show up for

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job interview late for your
appointment, right?

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Why?

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Because we don't want them to
think we're disorganized,

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inconsiderate, or unmotivated
until we're hired.

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So that's the other person.

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Like why aren't they here?

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00:06:47,700 --> 00:06:49,210
They're messing up, and there's
something not good

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00:06:49,210 --> 00:06:50,690
about their character.

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00:06:50,690 --> 00:06:52,920
But imagine when you're late.

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Why are you late?

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Because you're disorganized,
inconsiderate, and

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00:06:55,750 --> 00:06:57,380
unmotivated?

163
00:06:57,380 --> 00:06:59,100
No, because something came up.

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00:06:59,100 --> 00:07:00,930
The situation, right?

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The traffic was worse than
you could have imagined.

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Last minute, there was an email
that you have to respond

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00:07:07,020 --> 00:07:08,670
to or your parent called
or whatever.

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Some situation made you late.

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And what I'm going to show you
in a moment is that a very

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00:07:13,230 --> 00:07:15,070
fundamental thing about people--
in fact, called the

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00:07:15,070 --> 00:07:17,390
fundamental attribution
error--

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is that we're biased to
interpret the actions of

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00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,800
others as revealing their
character, whereas we're

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00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,950
biased to interpret our own
actions as being driven by the

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00:07:27,950 --> 00:07:31,380
situation we're in.

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00:07:31,380 --> 00:07:34,870
So Lee Ross was the one who came
up with this term, the

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00:07:34,870 --> 00:07:36,450
fundamental attribution error.

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The other person is driven by
character and that's how we

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00:07:40,230 --> 00:07:41,900
interpret why they do things.

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00:07:41,900 --> 00:07:45,180
We give ourselves a break
by the situation.

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00:07:45,180 --> 00:07:47,500
And so what they did is, they
ran experiments where they

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00:07:47,500 --> 00:07:49,830
wanted to make it incredibly
clear to Stanford

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00:07:49,830 --> 00:07:53,710
undergraduate research
participants, incredibly clear

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00:07:53,710 --> 00:07:55,910
that the situation
was dominant.

185
00:07:55,910 --> 00:07:58,440
And show that even then, even
when you know for certain it's

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00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,620
the situation, and you know as
much as you can possibly know,

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00:08:01,620 --> 00:08:04,910
you tend to ascribe character
to people.

188
00:08:04,910 --> 00:08:05,690
OK?

189
00:08:05,690 --> 00:08:08,150
So they had students
run in pairs.

190
00:08:08,150 --> 00:08:10,700
And they were truly randomly
selected to be a quiz master

191
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or a contestant.

192
00:08:11,980 --> 00:08:13,190
Two students at a time.

193
00:08:13,190 --> 00:08:16,200
The quiz master comes up with
questions and the contestant

194
00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:17,610
has to answer.

195
00:08:17,610 --> 00:08:20,360
So they can answer who were the
two inventors of calculus.

196
00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:23,470
And you know the answer
might be--

197
00:08:23,470 --> 00:08:25,180
and probably you could
argue some things

198
00:08:25,180 --> 00:08:26,720
about those, right?

199
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:28,710
But look, you know this
as students--

200
00:08:28,710 --> 00:08:30,695
it's sort of unfair that we get
to ask you the questions.

201
00:08:30,695 --> 00:08:33,809
So I get to ask you something
like what's the structure just

202
00:08:33,809 --> 00:08:35,360
in front of the hippocampus
that's important

203
00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:36,950
for emotional memory?

204
00:08:36,950 --> 00:08:40,064
And you might answer,
oh no, oh no.

205
00:08:40,064 --> 00:08:41,429
[LAUGHS]

206
00:08:41,429 --> 00:08:42,390
That was on the previous test.

207
00:08:42,390 --> 00:08:43,400
It's not cumulative.

208
00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:45,940
[LAUGHS]

209
00:08:45,940 --> 00:08:47,900
and I go, it's the amygdala.

210
00:08:47,900 --> 00:08:49,620
And I've worked in that field
for 30 years and I feel pretty

211
00:08:49,620 --> 00:08:51,360
proud of knowing that
little fact.

212
00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:56,380
Now, I need a student
hand to go up?

213
00:08:56,380 --> 00:08:56,960
OK.

214
00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:58,530
Now you asked me a question
that you think I might

215
00:08:58,530 --> 00:08:59,830
struggle on.

216
00:08:59,830 --> 00:09:02,820
And believe me, there's an
infinite number outside the

217
00:09:02,820 --> 00:09:04,170
location of the amygdala.

218
00:09:04,170 --> 00:09:07,580
Pick one from physics or
math or chemistry.

219
00:09:07,580 --> 00:09:08,990
You're going to embarrass me.

220
00:09:08,990 --> 00:09:10,770
Make it really hard so
I don't look so bad.

221
00:09:10,770 --> 00:09:13,902
AUDIENCE: There was
a football match

222
00:09:13,902 --> 00:09:15,000
this weekend in England--

223
00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:15,980
PROFESSOR: There's
what, sorry?

224
00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:17,800
AUDIENCE: A football match
this weekend in England.

225
00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:18,940
PROFESSOR: A football match
this weekend in England.

226
00:09:18,940 --> 00:09:19,915
AUDIENCE: Between two
of the top of teams

227
00:09:19,915 --> 00:09:21,030
in the Premier League.

228
00:09:21,030 --> 00:09:21,840
Who won?

229
00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:23,090
PROFESSOR: Manchester?

230
00:09:23,090 --> 00:09:23,830
No?

231
00:09:23,830 --> 00:09:25,170
OK, I just made that up.

232
00:09:25,170 --> 00:09:25,910
No, I don't know.

233
00:09:25,910 --> 00:09:26,650
So here's the point.

234
00:09:26,650 --> 00:09:29,020
If I ask questions,
I know the answer.

235
00:09:29,020 --> 00:09:30,550
I picked the question, right?

236
00:09:30,550 --> 00:09:32,590
And you may or may
not know it.

237
00:09:32,590 --> 00:09:35,610
If you create the question,
there's a pretty good chance I

238
00:09:35,610 --> 00:09:36,880
won't know it.

239
00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,240
OK, so inherently when somebody
is the quiz master,

240
00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:42,160
they're going to know the answer
and the other person

241
00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:42,860
may or may not it.

242
00:09:42,860 --> 00:09:44,150
A pretty good chance
they don't as

243
00:09:44,150 --> 00:09:44,870
they make up questions.

244
00:09:44,870 --> 00:09:45,830
You know that.

245
00:09:45,830 --> 00:09:47,570
Logically you know that.

246
00:09:47,570 --> 00:09:50,500
So the setup was--

247
00:09:50,500 --> 00:09:52,840
and the students were only
correct 40% of the time-- not

248
00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,270
bad-- who were answering the
questions spontaneously made

249
00:09:55,270 --> 00:09:57,700
up by the randomly selected
quiz master.

250
00:09:57,700 --> 00:09:59,570
So this is an experiment--

251
00:09:59,570 --> 00:10:01,950
knowing this, does it tell you
anything about the knowledge

252
00:10:01,950 --> 00:10:02,580
or intelligence--

253
00:10:02,580 --> 00:10:04,810
let's call it, just
an easy label--

254
00:10:04,810 --> 00:10:06,950
of the person asking the
questions or the person

255
00:10:06,950 --> 00:10:08,960
answering the questions?

256
00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:09,140
No.

257
00:10:09,140 --> 00:10:10,110
Does that make sense?

258
00:10:10,110 --> 00:10:12,710
They were randomly put into
positions where one person

259
00:10:12,710 --> 00:10:14,010
gets to ask and one answers.

260
00:10:14,010 --> 00:10:18,060
Yet even seeing all this right
in front of them, then

261
00:10:18,060 --> 00:10:21,610
students were asked, compared to
a person in general, to the

262
00:10:21,610 --> 00:10:25,380
average student, are the people
up there, the quizzer

263
00:10:25,380 --> 00:10:28,800
and the receiver, are they
less knowledgeable, about

264
00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,200
average, or more knowledgeable
than the average other

265
00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:32,470
Stanford student?

266
00:10:32,470 --> 00:10:35,550
And in a pure scientific sense
you should say I have no idea.

267
00:10:35,550 --> 00:10:37,410
Because you created a situation
where one person had

268
00:10:37,410 --> 00:10:39,910
a hopeless advantage compared
to the other.

269
00:10:39,910 --> 00:10:40,760
You told me you were
doing that.

270
00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:41,670
I saw you do that.

271
00:10:41,670 --> 00:10:43,670
But human beings can help
us say-- including the

272
00:10:43,670 --> 00:10:46,430
contestants say, I guess I'm
a bit dumb, but that other

273
00:10:46,430 --> 00:10:47,900
person was really smart.

274
00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:51,450
The one who knew about the
soccer match in England and

275
00:10:51,450 --> 00:10:53,040
other questions.

276
00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:55,760
Or the other person
observing--

277
00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,090
that quiz master seems to know
a lot, that student.

278
00:10:58,090 --> 00:10:59,540
And this other one-- the one
who was answering the

279
00:10:59,540 --> 00:11:01,180
questions--

280
00:11:01,180 --> 00:11:03,540
not quite an average
MIT student.

281
00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:04,510
All right?

282
00:11:04,510 --> 00:11:08,240
Because people can't help but
say if I see behavior, it's

283
00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,200
because of the content
of your character--

284
00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:12,170
smarter or dumber
in this case.

285
00:11:12,170 --> 00:11:16,970
Even though I know logically,
your mind goes to that

286
00:11:16,970 --> 00:11:19,940
analysis of behavior in others
by their character or

287
00:11:19,940 --> 00:11:21,320
disposition.

288
00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:22,750
Here's another one.

289
00:11:22,750 --> 00:11:26,860
Participants read essays that
were in favor of Castro, who

290
00:11:26,860 --> 00:11:29,900
is the leader of Cuba,
or against Castro.

291
00:11:29,900 --> 00:11:32,510
In the US, we're mostly
against Castro.

292
00:11:32,510 --> 00:11:34,510
The opinions expressed in the
essays were presented as

293
00:11:34,510 --> 00:11:35,190
either chosen--

294
00:11:35,190 --> 00:11:36,980
so the person could choose
to speak what

295
00:11:36,980 --> 00:11:37,930
they want to speak--

296
00:11:37,930 --> 00:11:40,450
or they were assigned
by the experimenter.

297
00:11:40,450 --> 00:11:43,150
So you were asked, please give
a pro-Castro speech or please

298
00:11:43,150 --> 00:11:44,830
give an anti-Castro speech.

299
00:11:44,830 --> 00:11:46,490
That's your job here.

300
00:11:46,490 --> 00:11:50,000
And then the people listening
said, OK, what do they really

301
00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:51,140
think about Castro?

302
00:11:51,140 --> 00:11:52,160
What do they really think?

303
00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:54,670
OK, even in a situation where
you're told they're going to

304
00:11:54,670 --> 00:11:55,720
be assigned that.

305
00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:57,990
So what happens?

306
00:11:57,990 --> 00:12:02,490
Here's how much they believe
that the essay writer was

307
00:12:02,490 --> 00:12:07,030
pro-Castro or anti-Castro
in the case where they

308
00:12:07,030 --> 00:12:08,540
chose what to do.

309
00:12:08,540 --> 00:12:10,990
But when they were given the
assignment, and now you know

310
00:12:10,990 --> 00:12:13,440
it's really truly random, it's
not quite as much as this, but

311
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,860
they still believed that if you
write a pro-Castro essay,

312
00:12:16,860 --> 00:12:19,790
even though you're told the
person was assigned that

313
00:12:19,790 --> 00:12:23,560
essay, as you read it you go,
this person seems to really

314
00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:24,860
believe it.

315
00:12:24,860 --> 00:12:26,570
I think they're really for
it because that's their

316
00:12:26,570 --> 00:12:27,540
predisposition.

317
00:12:27,540 --> 00:12:30,370
You're told fully this is a
situation that's assigned, but

318
00:12:30,370 --> 00:12:33,300
humans can't help but think, I
see through this a little bit.

319
00:12:33,300 --> 00:12:35,850
And that essay is just a little
too well written, a

320
00:12:35,850 --> 00:12:38,610
little too convincing, for a
person just to be randomly

321
00:12:38,610 --> 00:12:39,760
writing it.

322
00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,495
So humans, even when you give
them all the information, that

323
00:12:42,495 --> 00:12:46,130
it's 100% situational, they
can't help but interpret

324
00:12:46,130 --> 00:12:49,420
things as being built out of
character or predisposition in

325
00:12:49,420 --> 00:12:50,920
that person.

326
00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,960
So people have also thought to
this idea of understanding

327
00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:56,880
another person's behavior in
terms of their predispositions

328
00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,010
versus the situation.

329
00:12:59,010 --> 00:13:01,020
That the disposition on one
is made automatically,

330
00:13:01,020 --> 00:13:02,290
reflexively.

331
00:13:02,290 --> 00:13:04,350
That the situational information
sort of follows in

332
00:13:04,350 --> 00:13:06,420
a controlled, slow,
thoughtful way the

333
00:13:06,420 --> 00:13:07,890
takes energy to correct.

334
00:13:07,890 --> 00:13:12,470
That humans on the whole first
interpret automatically,

335
00:13:12,470 --> 00:13:15,770
reflexively, the behavior of
others as their character.

336
00:13:15,770 --> 00:13:19,380
And then second, optionally, can
correct it thinking about

337
00:13:19,380 --> 00:13:21,150
the situation.

338
00:13:21,150 --> 00:13:25,630
So the idea is you see
something, you immediately

339
00:13:25,630 --> 00:13:27,820
decide what the person's
character is.

340
00:13:27,820 --> 00:13:31,360
And then maybe, maybe, we'll
slowly, effort-fully and

341
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,850
consciously, think about
what the situation

342
00:13:33,850 --> 00:13:35,040
is that led to that.

343
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,540
So these are automatic, and
this is controlled,

344
00:13:37,540 --> 00:13:38,580
thoughtful, and deliberative.

345
00:13:38,580 --> 00:13:39,510
So it may not happen.

346
00:13:39,510 --> 00:13:41,630
So the people to show this--
and it's a slightly

347
00:13:41,630 --> 00:13:43,230
complicated experiment, but
let me show you how.

348
00:13:43,230 --> 00:13:47,620
They wanted to prove that
thinking about the situation

349
00:13:47,620 --> 00:13:51,490
demands a lot of extra mental
resources to overcome the

350
00:13:51,490 --> 00:13:53,110
initial interpretation.

351
00:13:53,110 --> 00:13:55,330
So they had participants watched
silent video clips.

352
00:13:55,330 --> 00:13:56,730
They said it was silent
because they wanted to

353
00:13:56,730 --> 00:14:00,040
preserve the privacy of the
woman who was being videotaped

354
00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:01,470
having a discussion
with a stranger.

355
00:14:01,470 --> 00:14:03,030
You just see the woman.

356
00:14:03,030 --> 00:14:04,680
And she looked extremely
anxious in some

357
00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:06,640
clips and not others.

358
00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,270
The task is we want you to
rate how anxious is this

359
00:14:10,270 --> 00:14:11,110
person basically.

360
00:14:11,110 --> 00:14:14,000
Rate your impression in terms
of their character.

361
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,580
Are they an anxious
type of person?

362
00:14:16,580 --> 00:14:18,550
Some of the research people
who were the subjects were

363
00:14:18,550 --> 00:14:22,530
told the target was discussing
what the topics were.

364
00:14:22,530 --> 00:14:24,550
And then they also did one other
thing which was some of

365
00:14:24,550 --> 00:14:27,360
the people we're asked to
just watch and rate.

366
00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:29,620
And other people were told,
not only do you watch and

367
00:14:29,620 --> 00:14:32,550
rate, but we're going to test
your memory for the content of

368
00:14:32,550 --> 00:14:33,860
what she said.

369
00:14:33,860 --> 00:14:34,870
Because of that, they're
trying to

370
00:14:34,870 --> 00:14:36,520
memorize what they hear.

371
00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:38,640
And the idea is that your
filling up their attention

372
00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,560
with what they're memorizing,
they can't make the

373
00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:42,272
correction.

374
00:14:42,272 --> 00:14:44,350
They're out of mental resources
to make the

375
00:14:44,350 --> 00:14:46,810
situational correction.

376
00:14:46,810 --> 00:14:48,470
So you're watching these
films on anxious

377
00:14:48,470 --> 00:14:51,060
topics or relaxing topics.

378
00:14:51,060 --> 00:14:55,470
So the relaxing topics might
be these things-- tell me

379
00:14:55,470 --> 00:14:57,640
about a foreign film you like
or a favorite hobby.

380
00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,500
Or speak about your worst public
humiliation, a sexual

381
00:15:00,500 --> 00:15:03,360
fantasy you have, a personal
failure you had.

382
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,320
And of course, these things in
red, you could expect a person

383
00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,230
talking about that to
see more anxious.

384
00:15:08,230 --> 00:15:10,520
Those are personal, anxiety
provoking topics, OK?

385
00:15:14,170 --> 00:15:15,620
So here's what happens.

386
00:15:15,620 --> 00:15:17,340
So again, the topics
were either anxiety

387
00:15:17,340 --> 00:15:18,600
provoking or not.

388
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:21,270
And you were either just
watching the film or

389
00:15:21,270 --> 00:15:23,920
memorizing what you were
hearing as well.

390
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,240
And the hypothesis is that
this would happen.

391
00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,800
So if you were doing one
task and you were told

392
00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:32,080
what the topic is--

393
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,730
it has a relaxing topic
or an anxious topic--

394
00:15:34,730 --> 00:15:39,350
you could separate out what the
task is versus the person.

395
00:15:39,350 --> 00:15:43,430
But if you were trying to
memorize simultaneously what

396
00:15:43,430 --> 00:15:47,510
the content of the film was,
that difference disappears.

397
00:15:47,510 --> 00:15:49,070
The rating is identical.

398
00:15:49,070 --> 00:15:51,610
The people are not taking into
account the topic that's being

399
00:15:51,610 --> 00:15:54,110
talked about.

400
00:15:54,110 --> 00:15:57,180
Because they're memorizing,
their mind is occupied with

401
00:15:57,180 --> 00:16:00,080
the content of the scene.

402
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,300
And they're not able to sort
of correct the intuitive,

403
00:16:04,300 --> 00:16:08,880
automatic, reflexive, habitual
interpretation of a person's

404
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:10,370
actions based on their
character.

405
00:16:14,810 --> 00:16:20,120
So in the news today, as if it
were organized for our course,

406
00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:22,560
there's a fantastic debate about
what pictures to release

407
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,370
or not release from what?

408
00:16:25,370 --> 00:16:27,760
Yeah, the killing of
Osama bin Laden.

409
00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,160
A huge debate going on about
whether it should

410
00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:31,840
be released or not.

411
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,400
That's gotten the public
attention.

412
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:36,940
One of the biggest reasons why
among several, but a big

413
00:16:36,940 --> 00:16:39,060
reason why there's such a huge
debate is another set of

414
00:16:39,060 --> 00:16:41,260
pictures some years ago from
Abu Ghraib prison.

415
00:16:41,260 --> 00:16:44,070
I'm going to show you those
pictures and the consequences

416
00:16:44,070 --> 00:16:46,260
that were felt to follow
from the release.

417
00:16:46,260 --> 00:16:48,280
So this is one of the soldiers
who was there, Private Lynndie

418
00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:50,330
England, who was said to have
participated in maltreating

419
00:16:50,330 --> 00:16:52,960
and torturing detainees at
the Abu Ghraib prison.

420
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:55,860
So you know, when the United
States went into Iraq, they

421
00:16:55,860 --> 00:16:58,590
very much had the thought that
they were liberating the

422
00:16:58,590 --> 00:17:02,530
country from tyranny, which in
some sense everybody agrees I

423
00:17:02,530 --> 00:17:03,130
think just about.

424
00:17:03,130 --> 00:17:04,990
They were in some sense.

425
00:17:04,990 --> 00:17:08,359
But one of the goals was to
convince the population of

426
00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,150
Iraq that the United States was
not there to occupy and

427
00:17:11,150 --> 00:17:14,380
take over but to liberate and
free the people of Iraq.

428
00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:16,859
That was a big message the
United States wanted to send

429
00:17:16,859 --> 00:17:19,470
to the world and to
the Iraqis, right?

430
00:17:19,470 --> 00:17:22,410
Regardless of whatever else you
know or believe or have

431
00:17:22,410 --> 00:17:24,839
political opinion, that was a
message the United States

432
00:17:24,839 --> 00:17:25,950
wanted to send to everybody.

433
00:17:25,950 --> 00:17:27,470
That was huge for them to do.

434
00:17:27,470 --> 00:17:32,020
That they were there to help
free Iraqi citizens not to

435
00:17:32,020 --> 00:17:34,300
occupy and take over Iraq.

436
00:17:34,300 --> 00:17:39,980
So imagine when these pictures
came out, a very large prison

437
00:17:39,980 --> 00:17:42,200
that was run by Americans
in Iraq--

438
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:47,060
and these pictures were put on
the internet-- of various,

439
00:17:47,060 --> 00:17:50,880
what looked like and probably
were, torturous situations.

440
00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:54,290
Here's an Iraqi person with this
hood on their head with

441
00:17:54,290 --> 00:17:57,830
wires connected to the body.

442
00:17:57,830 --> 00:18:01,370
Here is that soldier holding a
leash, and here's a prisoner

443
00:18:01,370 --> 00:18:04,600
on the leash.

444
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,050
Here's a smiling picture with
her and another soldier.

445
00:18:09,050 --> 00:18:13,075
There's a pyramid of naked
prisoners piled up, one on top

446
00:18:13,075 --> 00:18:15,060
of the other in a humiliating
position.

447
00:18:15,060 --> 00:18:18,260
Here's another picture of her,
thumbs up, pointing at hooded,

448
00:18:18,260 --> 00:18:21,840
naked prisoners' genitals.

449
00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:25,830
OK, and then she was tried in
court for these things.

450
00:18:25,830 --> 00:18:27,550
It was devastating for
the United States.

451
00:18:27,550 --> 00:18:28,690
These pictures were devastating
for the United

452
00:18:28,690 --> 00:18:31,700
States because they were exactly
the opposite of the

453
00:18:31,700 --> 00:18:34,590
picture the US wanted to
present, which is one of

454
00:18:34,590 --> 00:18:37,860
liberation and friendliness
and democracy and freedom.

455
00:18:37,860 --> 00:18:43,050
And here's tyranny, brutality,
and prison torture.

456
00:18:43,050 --> 00:18:48,670
And it figures hugely in the
mind of people in Washington

457
00:18:48,670 --> 00:18:50,070
now as they're debating
about these pictures.

458
00:18:50,070 --> 00:18:51,150
And for the moment,
they decided not

459
00:18:51,150 --> 00:18:52,320
to release any picture.

460
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,925
The power of these pictures as
they floated around to inflame

461
00:18:54,925 --> 00:18:57,185
and incite arguments.

462
00:18:57,185 --> 00:18:59,920
And so here two ways you could
do it from the viewpoint of

463
00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:00,740
social psychology.

464
00:19:00,740 --> 00:19:02,160
The disposition attribution.

465
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,760
You imagine you're a juror
where she's being tried.

466
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,550
So the accused knew what
she was doing.

467
00:19:07,550 --> 00:19:08,610
She was laughing and joking.

468
00:19:08,610 --> 00:19:11,450
She is enjoying participating,
all for her own sick humor.

469
00:19:11,450 --> 00:19:12,670
So here's the crime.

470
00:19:12,670 --> 00:19:14,990
You get angry and you're not
very sympathetic because it's

471
00:19:14,990 --> 00:19:16,110
from controllable factors.

472
00:19:16,110 --> 00:19:17,520
She should've controlled
herself.

473
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:18,165
She's held responsible.

474
00:19:18,165 --> 00:19:20,450
She should get a severe
punishment.

475
00:19:20,450 --> 00:19:21,820
Or you could ask--

476
00:19:21,820 --> 00:19:24,880
and we'll come back to this at
the end of the lecture--

477
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,870
were there uncontrollable
factors well beyond what a

478
00:19:27,870 --> 00:19:30,710
person could be reasonably
asked to control.

479
00:19:30,710 --> 00:19:32,260
Then you're not so angry at
them if you think the

480
00:19:32,260 --> 00:19:34,010
situation was very
problematic.

481
00:19:34,010 --> 00:19:38,890
For example, she had a boyfriend
who was not only

482
00:19:38,890 --> 00:19:43,430
superior to her militarily, but
also was the ring leader.

483
00:19:43,430 --> 00:19:44,190
She was a follower.

484
00:19:44,190 --> 00:19:45,980
She was an individual smitten.

485
00:19:45,980 --> 00:19:48,860
She did whatever he
wanted her to do.

486
00:19:48,860 --> 00:19:52,010
Somewhat more sympathy, person
not held responsible, and the

487
00:19:52,010 --> 00:19:54,740
punishment is more about
rehabilitation than

488
00:19:54,740 --> 00:19:56,010
punishment.

489
00:19:56,010 --> 00:19:58,070
So those would be
two approaches.

490
00:19:58,070 --> 00:20:00,720
She was found guilty of one
count of conspiracy and four

491
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:02,280
counts of maltreating detainees,
one count of

492
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:03,180
committing an indecent act.

493
00:20:03,180 --> 00:20:04,910
She was acquitted on
a conspiracy count.

494
00:20:04,910 --> 00:20:06,690
So I'm going to come back to
this in a little bit after we

495
00:20:06,690 --> 00:20:09,600
talk about the Stanford prison
experiment and ask you your

496
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,450
thoughts about this individual
from the information you have.

497
00:20:15,260 --> 00:20:18,540
So we'll come back to that in
a little bit, thinking about

498
00:20:18,540 --> 00:20:21,490
what is a person responsible
for versus the situation.

499
00:20:21,490 --> 00:20:23,340
So let's start to talk about
social influence, which is

500
00:20:23,340 --> 00:20:25,390
again a change in a person's
behavior or beliefs in

501
00:20:25,390 --> 00:20:27,790
response to the intentional
or unintentional

502
00:20:27,790 --> 00:20:29,730
influences of others.

503
00:20:29,730 --> 00:20:30,820
And we'll talk about
three kinds.

504
00:20:30,820 --> 00:20:33,560
Conformity, which is changing
your behavior or beliefs in

505
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:35,850
response to explicit or implicit
pressure from others.

506
00:20:35,850 --> 00:20:38,170
That's the person turning
in the elevator.

507
00:20:38,170 --> 00:20:41,170
Compliance, changing one's
behavior to avoid conflict.

508
00:20:41,170 --> 00:20:45,250
And obedience, which is
following the demands of more

509
00:20:45,250 --> 00:20:48,130
powerful people or
organizations.

510
00:20:48,130 --> 00:20:49,310
So conformity.

511
00:20:49,310 --> 00:20:52,100
I mean, conformity sounds like
a bad word, but we conform to

512
00:20:52,100 --> 00:20:54,100
implicit and explicit
social rules.

513
00:20:54,100 --> 00:20:57,100
It's pretty useful for social
groups operating.

514
00:20:57,100 --> 00:20:59,650
If everybody here was talking
and walking in and out and

515
00:20:59,650 --> 00:21:02,290
stuff like that, we couldn't
have a class.

516
00:21:02,290 --> 00:21:04,650
I mean, if we didn't conform in
some ways, we couldn't do

517
00:21:04,650 --> 00:21:07,390
very much that took more
than one person to do.

518
00:21:07,390 --> 00:21:09,690
And it's seen across people and
lifespans and cultures.

519
00:21:09,690 --> 00:21:15,530
It's how, in certain ways, we
work together as people.

520
00:21:15,530 --> 00:21:18,150
Now the original experiment
on this came from a very

521
00:21:18,150 --> 00:21:19,850
perceptual effect.

522
00:21:19,850 --> 00:21:22,560
Participants supported for study
on visual perception--

523
00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:23,990
Muzafer Sherif.

524
00:21:23,990 --> 00:21:25,930
They were seated in a dark room
and saw point of light

525
00:21:25,930 --> 00:21:27,840
appear, then move, and
then disappear.

526
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,660
And they were asked to judge
how far the light moved.

527
00:21:30,660 --> 00:21:33,410
This was based on a perceptual
illusion.

528
00:21:33,410 --> 00:21:36,730
Because if you stare at a light
in a totally dark room,

529
00:21:36,730 --> 00:21:39,550
you'll start to interpret it
moving, even though it does

530
00:21:39,550 --> 00:21:41,660
not physically move.

531
00:21:41,660 --> 00:21:42,940
It has to be a blacked
out room.

532
00:21:42,940 --> 00:21:44,440
You have to sit there
for a while.

533
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,740
And then you start to get
signals about movement that

534
00:21:46,740 --> 00:21:47,750
are incorrect.

535
00:21:47,750 --> 00:21:49,880
And this perceptual illusion
that a dot is moving was

536
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:51,800
called the autokinetic effect.

537
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:52,300
And that's OK.

538
00:21:52,300 --> 00:21:53,900
You've see an amazing allusions,
and that would be

539
00:21:53,900 --> 00:21:56,890
another amazing illusion of a
single dot of light in a dark

540
00:21:56,890 --> 00:21:59,600
room, and you start
to think it moves.

541
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:01,550
But what the astounding
thing was this--

542
00:22:01,550 --> 00:22:04,820
here's three individuals who are
tested and their rating of

543
00:22:04,820 --> 00:22:05,610
how much it moved.

544
00:22:05,610 --> 00:22:08,050
It didn't move, so there
are some differences.

545
00:22:08,050 --> 00:22:10,600
Now the three of them are tested
together on day two,

546
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:12,200
day three, and day four.

547
00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,670
And you can see that these three
different people start

548
00:22:14,670 --> 00:22:20,280
to converge on the identical,
imagined illusory movement, as

549
00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,920
if the responses of the others
were influencing one and

550
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,430
another on such a
simple thing.

551
00:22:25,430 --> 00:22:28,540
And then this experiment was
made even more ridiculous by

552
00:22:28,540 --> 00:22:31,400
one of the most spectacular
experiments just in the

553
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,980
simplicity and power
and replicability.

554
00:22:34,980 --> 00:22:36,870
So this is from Asch.

555
00:22:36,870 --> 00:22:40,180
Imagine that you walk into a
room and your task is this--

556
00:22:40,180 --> 00:22:41,790
now get ready because I'm
going to ask for a

557
00:22:41,790 --> 00:22:44,360
volunteer right now.

558
00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:45,370
OK, thanks.

559
00:22:45,370 --> 00:22:47,505
Get ready, this is going
to be pretty tough, OK?

560
00:22:47,505 --> 00:22:49,450
And everybody else will be
nice to you because you

561
00:22:49,450 --> 00:22:50,860
volunteered.

562
00:22:50,860 --> 00:22:52,430
You see this line here?

563
00:22:52,430 --> 00:22:55,246
Which of these three lines
has the same length?

564
00:22:55,246 --> 00:22:56,240
AUDIENCE: Number one.

565
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:56,860
PROFESSOR: Number one.

566
00:22:56,860 --> 00:22:58,175
That looks good to you?

567
00:22:58,175 --> 00:23:00,960
Does that look like a
really tough thing?

568
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:01,570
No?

569
00:23:01,570 --> 00:23:02,130
OK, thanks.

570
00:23:02,130 --> 00:23:03,840
OK, I was being a little
facetious.

571
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,110
Thank you.

572
00:23:05,110 --> 00:23:06,860
But you have to understand,
this is the gist of the

573
00:23:06,860 --> 00:23:07,540
experiment.

574
00:23:07,540 --> 00:23:11,250
Not such a tough thing,
pretty obvious.

575
00:23:11,250 --> 00:23:12,330
Here's what they did.

576
00:23:12,330 --> 00:23:14,300
Now you are brought into a
room and there were six

577
00:23:14,300 --> 00:23:14,850
confederates.

578
00:23:14,850 --> 00:23:17,150
So that's the word in social
psychology that's used for

579
00:23:17,150 --> 00:23:19,260
people who are in on
the experiment.

580
00:23:19,260 --> 00:23:19,460
OK?

581
00:23:19,460 --> 00:23:21,090
They're not really subjects.

582
00:23:21,090 --> 00:23:22,770
So you walk into a room.

583
00:23:22,770 --> 00:23:24,390
You don't know what's
going on.

584
00:23:24,390 --> 00:23:26,800
There are six other students
sitting there.

585
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,630
And they do exactly
what we did now.

586
00:23:28,630 --> 00:23:30,810
They show you a line like this
and three other lines and say

587
00:23:30,810 --> 00:23:32,400
you pick it.

588
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:33,940
The six other people go first.

589
00:23:33,940 --> 00:23:35,210
So you're sitting there--
imagine this.

590
00:23:35,210 --> 00:23:37,610
Imagine the first one says,
one, you go, OK.

591
00:23:37,610 --> 00:23:40,960
Then somebody goes,
eh, uh, two.

592
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,650
And you go, hm.

593
00:23:43,650 --> 00:23:46,800
The next person says,
oh yeah, two.

594
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,240
And by the time they get to you,
four of the six have said

595
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:51,170
number two.

596
00:23:51,170 --> 00:23:52,670
What do you do?

597
00:23:52,670 --> 00:23:56,250
Now to an astounding extend
what you do is this--

598
00:23:56,250 --> 00:23:57,980
you also say two.

599
00:23:57,980 --> 00:23:59,410
OK, and it's not--

600
00:23:59,410 --> 00:24:00,910
like you're saying, I'm
just fitting in.

601
00:24:00,910 --> 00:24:03,130
When they show you the pictures,
people are turning

602
00:24:03,130 --> 00:24:03,580
their head.

603
00:24:03,580 --> 00:24:04,450
Is there an angle?

604
00:24:04,450 --> 00:24:05,820
Is it the lighting?

605
00:24:05,820 --> 00:24:07,870
Why do I think it's
number one when

606
00:24:07,870 --> 00:24:09,070
everybody else is pretty--

607
00:24:09,070 --> 00:24:12,070
for such a simple thing,
pretty much the same.

608
00:24:12,070 --> 00:24:14,470
So the confederates are not
always wrong, but they're

609
00:24:14,470 --> 00:24:16,690
pretty often wrong, and
in a consistent way.

610
00:24:16,690 --> 00:24:18,020
It's all set up.

611
00:24:18,020 --> 00:24:19,540
But you as an individual--

612
00:24:19,540 --> 00:24:20,290
and here's one of these.

613
00:24:20,290 --> 00:24:22,840
You see this person like, OK,
if I look hard enough, I'm

614
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:23,360
going to figure it out.

615
00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:25,830
How did they figure out that
line number one equals line

616
00:24:25,830 --> 00:24:27,450
number two?

617
00:24:27,450 --> 00:24:29,550
If you do it by yourself,
less than 1% errors.

618
00:24:29,550 --> 00:24:31,770
Obviously, the only error you
make is if you're not paying

619
00:24:31,770 --> 00:24:33,830
attention, right?

620
00:24:33,830 --> 00:24:37,820
With group pressure, not every
single time, but all of a

621
00:24:37,820 --> 00:24:42,650
sudden, 37 times more often,
you say it's the wrong the

622
00:24:42,650 --> 00:24:44,020
line length.

623
00:24:44,020 --> 00:24:46,860
And almost always, the
impression is you really

624
00:24:46,860 --> 00:24:47,930
believe it.

625
00:24:47,930 --> 00:24:49,220
The people are really
struggling.

626
00:24:49,220 --> 00:24:50,470
They're really hemming
and hawing.

627
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:58,950
Not everybody's the same, but
only 25% give the correct

628
00:24:58,950 --> 00:25:00,260
answer throughout
the experiment.

629
00:25:00,260 --> 00:25:04,340
75% of people at least once will
give the obviously wrong

630
00:25:04,340 --> 00:25:07,890
answer because they feel
that conformity.

631
00:25:07,890 --> 00:25:10,990
They need to respond to the
other answers given by the

632
00:25:10,990 --> 00:25:12,950
other students around them.

633
00:25:12,950 --> 00:25:16,490
Such a simple thing as line
length, we cannot help but

634
00:25:16,490 --> 00:25:20,930
want to fit in and figure
out a way to do that.

635
00:25:20,930 --> 00:25:23,110
What effects this conformity?

636
00:25:23,110 --> 00:25:25,650
Well, the more confederates,
the more powerful it is.

637
00:25:25,650 --> 00:25:27,910
That makes sense, right?

638
00:25:27,910 --> 00:25:29,590
So here's the group
size effect.

639
00:25:29,590 --> 00:25:32,240
So if only one person is making
it, you just figure

640
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,040
they're not too swift and
you can get the line.

641
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:36,430
Two people, you're already
moving up.

642
00:25:36,430 --> 00:25:38,620
By the time you get to
four people, you're

643
00:25:38,620 --> 00:25:39,620
all the way up there.

644
00:25:39,620 --> 00:25:41,650
4 to 15 is about the same.

645
00:25:41,650 --> 00:25:45,770
So four other people giving you
obviously wrong answers,

646
00:25:45,770 --> 00:25:48,920
you decide there must be
something interestingly going

647
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,220
on and you could figure
it like they did.

648
00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:53,650
OK

649
00:25:53,650 --> 00:25:54,630
Presence of an ally.

650
00:25:54,630 --> 00:25:57,140
We'll come back to this
a couple times.

651
00:25:57,140 --> 00:26:02,090
All it takes is one person to
break the conformity and

652
00:26:02,090 --> 00:26:03,970
you're willing to
break that, too.

653
00:26:03,970 --> 00:26:05,610
In these experiments,
that's set up.

654
00:26:05,610 --> 00:26:08,340
The ally is one of the
confederates who's now told to

655
00:26:08,340 --> 00:26:09,940
give the right length.

656
00:26:09,940 --> 00:26:14,240
So one brave person can really
change what you do, but it's

657
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:15,790
hard to be that brave person.

658
00:26:15,790 --> 00:26:18,060
These allies are set up
by the experimenter.

659
00:26:18,060 --> 00:26:18,650
So what happens?

660
00:26:18,650 --> 00:26:19,570
Here you go.

661
00:26:19,570 --> 00:26:22,780
Here's the mistakes being made
when all the other people are

662
00:26:22,780 --> 00:26:23,930
saying the wrong length.

663
00:26:23,930 --> 00:26:26,660
And if one person is giving
the right answers, only

664
00:26:26,660 --> 00:26:27,140
occasionally.

665
00:26:27,140 --> 00:26:30,640
Still you do it sometimes, but a
dramatic difference from one

666
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:31,850
person giving the
right answer.

667
00:26:31,850 --> 00:26:35,980
One dissenter opens up your
chance to go with the answer

668
00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:39,490
you know intellectually
is correct.

669
00:26:39,490 --> 00:26:41,230
Embarrassment.

670
00:26:41,230 --> 00:26:43,240
It's amazing the stuff
we all do.

671
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:47,230
It's amazing the stuff we all do
to avoid being embarrassed.

672
00:26:47,230 --> 00:26:49,580
Embarrassment is such
a powerful thing for

673
00:26:49,580 --> 00:26:50,470
almost all of us.

674
00:26:50,470 --> 00:26:52,570
There are some exceptions,
but for almost all of us.

675
00:26:52,570 --> 00:26:55,600
So part of what's going on in
conformity is to not to be

676
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,340
embarrassed to be different.

677
00:26:57,340 --> 00:27:00,670
And so here's the way
they show you that.

678
00:27:00,670 --> 00:27:03,170
They have you arrive late.

679
00:27:03,170 --> 00:27:04,550
You're not really
arriving late.

680
00:27:04,550 --> 00:27:06,180
They tell you, oh, you should
have been here.

681
00:27:06,180 --> 00:27:07,220
We had a miscommunication.

682
00:27:07,220 --> 00:27:08,290
All the other people are here.

683
00:27:08,290 --> 00:27:09,310
They knew.

684
00:27:09,310 --> 00:27:11,750
Well, because you arrived late,
why don't you just write

685
00:27:11,750 --> 00:27:12,700
down your answers.

686
00:27:12,700 --> 00:27:13,980
You don't have to say
them out loud.

687
00:27:13,980 --> 00:27:16,750
Because we can't have you mess
up the experiment now.

688
00:27:16,750 --> 00:27:20,720
Then it's still not perfect, but
people reduced by a third

689
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,750
the number of their
incorrect answers.

690
00:27:22,750 --> 00:27:24,090
Because they don't have
to tell other

691
00:27:24,090 --> 00:27:25,330
people what they saw.

692
00:27:25,330 --> 00:27:28,030
OK, it's not perfect, but all
of a sudden, at least that.

693
00:27:28,030 --> 00:27:29,110
And a few other things.

694
00:27:29,110 --> 00:27:31,250
It peaks in ninth grade.

695
00:27:31,250 --> 00:27:33,500
Women on average a bit
more than men.

696
00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:35,590
Cultures that are more
interdependent showed a bit

697
00:27:35,590 --> 00:27:38,390
more than cultures like the US
that emphasize independence.

698
00:27:38,390 --> 00:27:42,320
But these are all variations on
a relatively small thing.

699
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,640
Fundamentally, humans
want to conform.

700
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,560
And they don't form
superficially.

701
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,540
They convince themselves there's
something going on and

702
00:27:49,540 --> 00:27:51,210
then the right thing to
do is to conform.

703
00:27:54,030 --> 00:27:55,060
Why do we conform?

704
00:27:55,060 --> 00:27:56,210
There's all kinds
of hypotheses.

705
00:27:56,210 --> 00:27:58,240
We want to be right.

706
00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,910
Everybody knew that line length,
I want to be right.

707
00:28:01,910 --> 00:28:02,640
I want to be popular.

708
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,760
I don't want to be the weird
person not doing this stuff.

709
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,930
So anyway, let's come to
compliance which is even more

710
00:28:08,930 --> 00:28:10,276
oppositional.

711
00:28:10,276 --> 00:28:14,240
You know this from your life if
you have ever spent money

712
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,010
on something you didn't mean
to because there's an

713
00:28:16,010 --> 00:28:17,570
effective salesperson.

714
00:28:17,570 --> 00:28:19,090
It's called a foot-in-the-door
technique,

715
00:28:19,090 --> 00:28:20,770
and here's an example.

716
00:28:20,770 --> 00:28:22,730
Here's what they did in
1962 in California.

717
00:28:22,730 --> 00:28:25,010
Freedman and Fraser
drove to homes--

718
00:28:25,010 --> 00:28:28,440
random homes-- show a large
unattractive sign that says

719
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,060
drive carefully.

720
00:28:30,060 --> 00:28:33,170
Now we can all agree that it's
pretty non-controversial to

721
00:28:33,170 --> 00:28:34,740
drive carefully.

722
00:28:34,740 --> 00:28:37,060
And they knock on the door and
they ask the person will you

723
00:28:37,060 --> 00:28:39,270
place this on your lawn.

724
00:28:39,270 --> 00:28:42,000
Now think if somebody comes up
to you, knocks on the door,

725
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,290
and says, would you place this
large unattractive sign to

726
00:28:44,290 --> 00:28:46,130
drive carefully?

727
00:28:46,130 --> 00:28:47,920
And less than 20% say yes.

728
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:49,630
OK that's not a shocking
number.

729
00:28:49,630 --> 00:28:53,020
They're picking something that's
like apple pie, right?

730
00:28:53,020 --> 00:28:54,800
I mean, drive carefully, who
could be against that?

731
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,130
But who wants a weird sign
on your lawn, right?

732
00:28:57,130 --> 00:28:59,990
And they made it unattractive
on purpose.

733
00:28:59,990 --> 00:29:01,390
So 20%.

734
00:29:01,390 --> 00:29:02,530
Here's the other group.

735
00:29:02,530 --> 00:29:03,910
They go up to your door, they
knock on the door, and they

736
00:29:03,910 --> 00:29:06,300
say, I have a petition here--
you've had that experience on

737
00:29:06,300 --> 00:29:07,105
the street or somewhere--

738
00:29:07,105 --> 00:29:08,460
I have a petition here.

739
00:29:08,460 --> 00:29:10,570
Will you sign up to support
legislation to

740
00:29:10,570 --> 00:29:12,750
reduce traffic accidents.

741
00:29:12,750 --> 00:29:14,870
OK, do you think there's
some gimmick here?

742
00:29:14,870 --> 00:29:17,200
I mean, who's for traffic
accidents?

743
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:18,260
The person says yes.

744
00:29:18,260 --> 00:29:20,130
OK, I'm going to
sign that one.

745
00:29:20,130 --> 00:29:22,020
So a lot of people
sign that one.

746
00:29:22,020 --> 00:29:23,980
Then you go back to the same
house a few weeks later and

747
00:29:23,980 --> 00:29:26,700
you ask the sign, it moves
up to over 50%

748
00:29:26,700 --> 00:29:28,780
say yes for the sign.

749
00:29:28,780 --> 00:29:30,450
That's literally the
foot-in-the-door.

750
00:29:30,450 --> 00:29:34,060
Once you sign this petition,
then you're incredibly more

751
00:29:34,060 --> 00:29:36,290
likely to say yes
for the sign.

752
00:29:36,290 --> 00:29:40,090
And what we understand that to
be through other experiments,

753
00:29:40,090 --> 00:29:41,590
we want to be consistent
in our behavior.

754
00:29:41,590 --> 00:29:43,860
Well gee, if we're willing to
sign a petition for fewer

755
00:29:43,860 --> 00:29:48,050
accidents, why wouldn't we put
a sign on our lawn to further

756
00:29:48,050 --> 00:29:51,060
promote people not
getting run over.

757
00:29:51,060 --> 00:29:54,410
All right, but once you make
the small agreement, then

758
00:29:54,410 --> 00:29:56,570
you're willing to do something
way larger that by itself you

759
00:29:56,570 --> 00:29:57,810
would never do.

760
00:29:57,810 --> 00:30:00,450
And I can't tell you from my own
experience how much that

761
00:30:00,450 --> 00:30:03,380
when people end up doing
something they really wish

762
00:30:03,380 --> 00:30:06,590
they hadn't done, it often
starts-- and you may know this

763
00:30:06,590 --> 00:30:09,740
in yourself-- with a small
thing, good or bad.

764
00:30:09,740 --> 00:30:11,770
It seems small, then you do a
little bit more, and then a

765
00:30:11,770 --> 00:30:14,090
little more, and then all of a
sudden, you're surrounded by a

766
00:30:14,090 --> 00:30:17,550
SWAT team in your dorm room.

767
00:30:17,550 --> 00:30:19,840
And you say, how did
this happen, right?

768
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:23,720
It's amazing how often things,
good and bad, start with small

769
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,960
steps, another small step, and
all of a sudden you're on a

770
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:28,990
slippery slope to doing
something you could never have

771
00:30:28,990 --> 00:30:33,020
imagined if it would have been
posed as strongly as you ended

772
00:30:33,020 --> 00:30:33,910
up doing it.

773
00:30:33,910 --> 00:30:34,300
Does that make sense?

774
00:30:34,300 --> 00:30:36,580
OK, so this is compliance.

775
00:30:36,580 --> 00:30:38,310
Little question, little
question, all of a sudden,

776
00:30:38,310 --> 00:30:41,890
you're doing something you
would never do by itself.

777
00:30:41,890 --> 00:30:42,520
Obedience.

778
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,570
Now obedience, we think,
well, we're not

779
00:30:44,570 --> 00:30:46,095
going to be that obedient.

780
00:30:46,095 --> 00:30:48,350
We, to a certain extent, obey
our parents, the police, our

781
00:30:48,350 --> 00:30:49,840
bosses, and firefighters.

782
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,000
Again, a certain amount of
obedience logically we think

783
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,580
is necessary for social order
and civilization so that we're

784
00:30:55,580 --> 00:30:58,510
all organized in some
non-chaotic way.

785
00:30:58,510 --> 00:31:02,290
And it varies across groups
and times and so on.

786
00:31:02,290 --> 00:31:06,010
But we know there are horrible
examples where obedience is

787
00:31:06,010 --> 00:31:09,430
associated with genocide.

788
00:31:09,430 --> 00:31:12,730
The defense of many Nazis in
Germany was that they were

789
00:31:12,730 --> 00:31:15,080
simply following
orders, right?

790
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,020
And in genocides all over the
world, tragically, tragically,

791
00:31:19,020 --> 00:31:21,140
people will say why
do they do that?

792
00:31:21,140 --> 00:31:23,180
Why would they end up-- and if
you had posed it that way to

793
00:31:23,180 --> 00:31:27,230
people, why would you end up
murdering many people,

794
00:31:27,230 --> 00:31:29,680
innocent people, defenseless
people?

795
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,820
So often, part of it is being
obedient to some group.

796
00:31:33,820 --> 00:31:36,880
So now comes one of the all time
amazing experiments that

797
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:38,950
we can't pull off-- although I'm
going to tell you it was

798
00:31:38,950 --> 00:31:41,230
pulled off in a certain
way recently--

799
00:31:41,230 --> 00:31:42,580
from Stanley Milgram.

800
00:31:42,580 --> 00:31:44,810
So it works like this.

801
00:31:44,810 --> 00:31:47,460
This is the actual flyer that
Milgram at Yale sent out,

802
00:31:47,460 --> 00:31:49,640
"Persons Needed for a Study
of Memory." And

803
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:50,680
they'll pay you $4.

804
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,080
At that time that
was something.

805
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,050
And you would come into
Professor Stanley Milgram, the

806
00:31:55,050 --> 00:31:58,110
Department of psychology
at Yale University.

807
00:31:58,110 --> 00:31:59,460
And here was the gimmick.

808
00:31:59,460 --> 00:32:01,790
It was a newspaper
add like that.

809
00:32:01,790 --> 00:32:02,510
And you would come in.

810
00:32:02,510 --> 00:32:03,800
And there would be two
people in the room.

811
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,970
One was a confederate and one
was you, who naively, honestly

812
00:32:07,970 --> 00:32:09,680
just shows up to do
an experiment.

813
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,270
They tell you they're here to
help science improve learning

814
00:32:12,270 --> 00:32:14,590
and memory through punishment.

815
00:32:14,590 --> 00:32:17,820
Can we improve learning and
memory through punishment?

816
00:32:17,820 --> 00:32:20,620
And we're going to say that
one of you will randomly

817
00:32:20,620 --> 00:32:23,060
become the teacher and one
will become the learner.

818
00:32:23,060 --> 00:32:24,480
And they make it look
like a lottery.

819
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:25,620
They hand out a piece
of paper.

820
00:32:25,620 --> 00:32:27,190
But it's all a set up.

821
00:32:27,190 --> 00:32:29,310
You will become the teacher.

822
00:32:29,310 --> 00:32:31,340
The other person will
become the learner.

823
00:32:31,340 --> 00:32:33,880
You will become the teacher.

824
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:35,900
And you get sets of word
pairs to memorize.

825
00:32:39,170 --> 00:32:40,980
As a teacher, you give a word
and the student is supposedly

826
00:32:40,980 --> 00:32:41,940
to give you the right answer.

827
00:32:41,940 --> 00:32:43,690
You have the answer
in front of you.

828
00:32:43,690 --> 00:32:47,210
And you tell them whether they
were right or wrong.

829
00:32:47,210 --> 00:32:49,120
If they give you the correct
answer, you're supposed to say

830
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,450
"good" or "that's right" to
encourage good learning.

831
00:32:52,450 --> 00:32:54,630
If they give you the incorrect
response, you're supposed to

832
00:32:54,630 --> 00:32:58,720
press a button that
delivers a shock.

833
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,570
Here is the device they used.

834
00:33:00,570 --> 00:33:03,670
And with every one of these
buttons, the voltage goes up.

835
00:33:03,670 --> 00:33:09,430
And you, as the teacher, sample
a 45 volt shock which I

836
00:33:09,430 --> 00:33:12,960
can tell you is moderately
uncomfortable.

837
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,270
It's not terrible, but you
know it's not fun.

838
00:33:15,270 --> 00:33:16,320
OK, so you know that.

839
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,020
In case you had some illusion
about that, you know 45 volts

840
00:33:19,020 --> 00:33:20,210
is already pretty
uncomfortable.

841
00:33:20,210 --> 00:33:22,350
So you say that's how
it feels, OK?

842
00:33:22,350 --> 00:33:22,840
OK.

843
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:24,290
Now the other person
goes into the room.

844
00:33:24,290 --> 00:33:27,000
And you're sitting there
as the teacher.

845
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:28,380
So here's the set up.

846
00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:31,550
Here you are getting your $4.

847
00:33:31,550 --> 00:33:34,860
Here's the scientist
in a white jacket

848
00:33:34,860 --> 00:33:36,440
telling you what to do--

849
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:37,450
the researcher.

850
00:33:37,450 --> 00:33:40,140
Here's the so-called learner,
but that's really a

851
00:33:40,140 --> 00:33:40,880
confederate.

852
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:43,100
They're not really getting
shocked in the other room.

853
00:33:43,100 --> 00:33:46,160
But they're going to
play act a lot.

854
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,040
And you're sitting there in
front of this device that goes

855
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:54,110
from 15 to 450 volts in small
steps of 15 volts.

856
00:33:54,110 --> 00:33:56,450
30 switches across here.

857
00:33:56,450 --> 00:33:58,670
150 has a label that
says strong shock.

858
00:33:58,670 --> 00:34:00,140
255, intense.

859
00:34:00,140 --> 00:34:03,000
375, danger, severe shock.

860
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,110
At 435 and 450, there's
no word left for the

861
00:34:06,110 --> 00:34:06,910
intensity of shock.

862
00:34:06,910 --> 00:34:08,060
They just put XXX.

863
00:34:08,060 --> 00:34:09,310
All right?

864
00:34:11,510 --> 00:34:12,770
Initially, the learner
does well.

865
00:34:12,770 --> 00:34:13,320
Again, it's a set up.

866
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,159
The learner knows what they're
supposed to do.

867
00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:16,860
But then, errors
start to make.

868
00:34:16,860 --> 00:34:17,860
The learner starts--

869
00:34:17,860 --> 00:34:21,310
and with every error, you're
supposed to go one worse.

870
00:34:21,310 --> 00:34:23,630
The learner complains that the
shocks are starting to hurt as

871
00:34:23,630 --> 00:34:25,989
they move up to about 100.

872
00:34:25,989 --> 00:34:29,320
Then they scream in the other
room when you give the shock.

873
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:30,670
And the participants--

874
00:34:30,670 --> 00:34:33,170
I can tell you, they're just
like you would think, just

875
00:34:33,170 --> 00:34:33,770
like you would do.

876
00:34:33,770 --> 00:34:35,270
You go like, I really don't
like this, This

877
00:34:35,270 --> 00:34:36,389
doesn't seem right.

878
00:34:36,389 --> 00:34:40,210
And the person running the
experiment says, your job is

879
00:34:40,210 --> 00:34:41,790
to do the next thing.

880
00:34:41,790 --> 00:34:42,540
OK?

881
00:34:42,540 --> 00:34:43,569
And the people are suffering.

882
00:34:43,569 --> 00:34:45,130
And like, this can't be right?

883
00:34:45,130 --> 00:34:46,489
And how is this happening
at Yale?

884
00:34:46,489 --> 00:34:47,810
And so on.

885
00:34:47,810 --> 00:34:50,690
So think what you would do.

886
00:34:50,690 --> 00:34:52,280
The learner complains
about his or her

887
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:53,750
condition the other room.

888
00:34:53,750 --> 00:34:54,739
More errors.

889
00:34:54,739 --> 00:34:58,700
Now the teacher is often begging
the other person,

890
00:34:58,700 --> 00:35:00,020
please listen and
pay attention.

891
00:35:00,020 --> 00:35:01,440
I don't want to shock
you any more.

892
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:02,345
Come on, get it together.

893
00:35:02,345 --> 00:35:04,000
I don't want to do
it any more.

894
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,500
Then the person starts to scream
from the other room.

895
00:35:06,500 --> 00:35:09,710
"You have no right to keep
me here!" Another shock.

896
00:35:09,710 --> 00:35:10,780
"I refuse to answer anymore.

897
00:35:10,780 --> 00:35:12,660
You can't hold me here!" The
person's shouting this from

898
00:35:12,660 --> 00:35:13,480
the other room.

899
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:17,100
"My heart is bothering me!" At
300 volts, the person says

900
00:35:17,100 --> 00:35:19,830
they refuse to answer.

901
00:35:19,830 --> 00:35:22,060
You turn your head to the
experimenter and you say, the

902
00:35:22,060 --> 00:35:24,140
person's not even answering at
300 volts, what do I do?

903
00:35:24,140 --> 00:35:28,290
And the scientist in the white
jacket says, if there's no

904
00:35:28,290 --> 00:35:31,100
response, that's a
wrong response.

905
00:35:31,100 --> 00:35:32,350
So you give another shock.

906
00:35:34,750 --> 00:35:37,750
And at 350 volts, the person's
not even responding anymore.

907
00:35:37,750 --> 00:35:39,790
As far as you know, they're
sort of dead.

908
00:35:39,790 --> 00:35:42,050
I mean, you don't know what
they're doing, but you think

909
00:35:42,050 --> 00:35:43,200
something horrible
has happened.

910
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:44,430
This is fully play acted.

911
00:35:44,430 --> 00:35:46,380
And the people who went through
this were miserable.

912
00:35:46,380 --> 00:35:48,860
So much so that it's been almost
impossible to do this

913
00:35:48,860 --> 00:35:49,290
ever since.

914
00:35:49,290 --> 00:35:52,440
People think it's too dangerous
for the naive

915
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,580
research participant who thinks
they're nearly shocking

916
00:35:54,580 --> 00:35:55,830
somebody to death.

917
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:00,470
So how many people go
all the way up?

918
00:36:00,470 --> 00:36:03,710
And this person's screaming,
begging, saying their heart is

919
00:36:03,710 --> 00:36:06,720
starting to give out, and
finally going silent.

920
00:36:06,720 --> 00:36:10,100
How many people go all the way
up to 450, all the way up?

921
00:36:10,100 --> 00:36:12,730
Long after the person has
stopped responding and you get

922
00:36:12,730 --> 00:36:15,080
these incredibly bad times?

923
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,360
So they asked experts and they
said, it'll be about 1 to 3%,

924
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:19,510
and that's a good
way to identify

925
00:36:19,510 --> 00:36:21,866
psychopaths in the world.

926
00:36:21,866 --> 00:36:24,510
And you could certainly sit
there and you could say what

927
00:36:24,510 --> 00:36:26,110
I'm going to say, like I
would never do that.

928
00:36:26,110 --> 00:36:28,920
And I'm going to convince you
in a minute, guaranteed in

929
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:32,780
this room most of you would do
that all the way, guaranteed,

930
00:36:32,780 --> 00:36:33,965
by any scientific evidence.

931
00:36:33,965 --> 00:36:36,550
And all of us will say I
would never do that.

932
00:36:36,550 --> 00:36:38,640
The power of the situation.

933
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,590
So how many people went all
the way? two thirds

934
00:36:41,590 --> 00:36:42,870
went all the way.

935
00:36:42,870 --> 00:36:43,380
Two thirds.

936
00:36:43,380 --> 00:36:44,160
Look at around.

937
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:45,815
Look to your left and
to your right.

938
00:36:45,815 --> 00:36:47,760
If there's three of you,
two of you will

939
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:49,370
go all the way until--

940
00:36:49,370 --> 00:36:51,540
I know, no, not me,
not me, not me.

941
00:36:54,700 --> 00:36:56,810
So here's what experts said.

942
00:36:56,810 --> 00:36:59,040
Once you get to some intensity
level, practically nobody's

943
00:36:59,040 --> 00:36:59,860
going to do it.

944
00:36:59,860 --> 00:37:04,510
Here's the two thirds of people
who went all the way.

945
00:37:04,510 --> 00:37:08,690
And so two thirds went
all the way, but

946
00:37:08,690 --> 00:37:09,940
everybody went to 100 volts.

947
00:37:09,940 --> 00:37:12,280
Almost nobody stopped
early on.

948
00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:14,970
But one third stopped around
a third through.

949
00:37:14,970 --> 00:37:19,320
Two thirds went all the way.

950
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,260
So people have said, oh,
that's the 1950s.

951
00:37:22,260 --> 00:37:25,370
People were much more conformist
and obedient.

952
00:37:25,370 --> 00:37:30,200
That was before Vietnam, before
rock 'n' roll, before

953
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,280
Watergate, and all this
stuff that has

954
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:33,700
made us distrust authority.

955
00:37:33,700 --> 00:37:38,400
And before the internet, we
know what's going on.

956
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,920
So now, you guys go
like it's not us.

957
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,710
That's some sad 1950s people
who are just following

958
00:37:43,710 --> 00:37:44,200
instructions.

959
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,000
We're independent people
of the 21st century.

960
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,000
So they almost redid this
experiment in some reduced way

961
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,900
a couple years ago and it
doesn't make a difference.

962
00:37:53,900 --> 00:37:57,580
So 2009, here are some
things they did to

963
00:37:57,580 --> 00:37:59,000
get approval of this.

964
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:00,000
First of all, they carefully--

965
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,110
even more carefully than
before-- screened the subjects

966
00:38:02,110 --> 00:38:03,790
to make sure they were in good
mental health so they weren't

967
00:38:03,790 --> 00:38:06,120
breaking down people.

968
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,360
They were told three times they
could stop and still get

969
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:09,830
$50 for participating.

970
00:38:09,830 --> 00:38:12,490
They were told multiple times,
you can stop, you can stop,

971
00:38:12,490 --> 00:38:14,260
you can stop.

972
00:38:14,260 --> 00:38:16,170
After the experiment they were
instantly told what the whole

973
00:38:16,170 --> 00:38:18,880
thing was about, which wasn't
that well organized before.

974
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,080
They had a clinical psychologist
sitting there to

975
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,810
make sure that the person
seems not to distressed.

976
00:38:24,810 --> 00:38:26,920
And they said, look since
we know that pretty much

977
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:28,390
everybody who went to 150
went all the way,

978
00:38:28,390 --> 00:38:29,430
we'll stop at 150 volts.

979
00:38:29,430 --> 00:38:31,430
We won't torture a person
all the way through.

980
00:38:31,430 --> 00:38:33,030
But 150 is pretty big.

981
00:38:33,030 --> 00:38:34,960
You're doing it for quite
a bit of time.

982
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,720
So what happens in 2009?

983
00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:41,260
For Milgram, 79%
went 150 volts.

984
00:38:41,260 --> 00:38:45,810
In 2009, 70% of undergraduates
go to that same length.

985
00:38:45,810 --> 00:38:47,990
It looks pretty much the same.

986
00:38:47,990 --> 00:38:49,520
And by the way, in case you
thought women were more

987
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,760
merciful, or not, they are
identical to men in these

988
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,140
studies in 2009.

989
00:38:55,140 --> 00:38:57,160
It's stunning.

990
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:00,350
And so everybody who worries
about situations in the world

991
00:39:00,350 --> 00:39:04,040
where people do horrible things
to other people is

992
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:06,530
incredibly impressed
by this experiment.

993
00:39:06,530 --> 00:39:11,500
Where so a little pressure, as
a volunteer experiment, where

994
00:39:11,500 --> 00:39:14,890
you can stop any time and walk
out, it's not your boss, it"s

995
00:39:14,890 --> 00:39:17,950
not a general, it's not your
culture, it's not your parents

996
00:39:17,950 --> 00:39:20,770
and schools, just an
experimenter--

997
00:39:20,770 --> 00:39:22,970
almost everybody goes
all the way.

998
00:39:22,970 --> 00:39:25,360
And that's true in
2009 as well.

999
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:28,670
We're incredibly prone, if we
have the right situation, to

1000
00:39:28,670 --> 00:39:32,910
be obedient beyond what our
humanitarian spirits suggest

1001
00:39:32,910 --> 00:39:35,140
they would be.

1002
00:39:35,140 --> 00:39:37,600
So nobody really knows why
we're so obedient.

1003
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,220
Although I'll show you some
things that people have

1004
00:39:39,220 --> 00:39:40,280
discovered.

1005
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,340
Does the status of the authority
figure matter?

1006
00:39:42,340 --> 00:39:44,310
Does it matter that the person
seems like a scientist who

1007
00:39:44,310 --> 00:39:45,970
knows what he or she is doing?

1008
00:39:45,970 --> 00:39:48,940
Is it belief that the source
of authority, because they

1009
00:39:48,940 --> 00:39:52,480
know what they're doing,
it must be OK?

1010
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,110
How much does it matter that you
can't quite figure out how

1011
00:39:55,110 --> 00:39:57,080
to get out of this situation?

1012
00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,090
And how much of it is a slippery
slope like we've

1013
00:39:59,090 --> 00:39:59,550
talked about?

1014
00:39:59,550 --> 00:40:01,160
Well if I can do five
volts, I can do 10.

1015
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:02,290
If I can do 10, I can 20.

1016
00:40:02,290 --> 00:40:03,720
If I can do 20, I can do 30.

1017
00:40:03,720 --> 00:40:07,730
And somehow, five by five,
you end up at 400.

1018
00:40:07,730 --> 00:40:09,020
So these are all ideas.

1019
00:40:09,020 --> 00:40:10,420
So people have looked at this.

1020
00:40:10,420 --> 00:40:12,600
What if the person gives
no instructions?

1021
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:13,520
Almost nobody does it.

1022
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,270
If the person just says, here's
the experiment, please

1023
00:40:16,270 --> 00:40:18,660
do it, and then doesn't talk
with you when you say you want

1024
00:40:18,660 --> 00:40:20,210
to stop, people stop.

1025
00:40:20,210 --> 00:40:22,090
All they have to say
though is "please

1026
00:40:22,090 --> 00:40:25,020
continue" and that's enough.

1027
00:40:25,020 --> 00:40:26,360
Men and women aren't
different.

1028
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:28,960
If you do the experiment
not in a psychology--

1029
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,010
here's the baseline, the 70%
that go all the way.

1030
00:40:32,010 --> 00:40:33,150
In an office building,
it's less.

1031
00:40:33,150 --> 00:40:33,840
Why do you think that?

1032
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:36,090
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

1033
00:40:36,090 --> 00:40:37,010
PROFESSOR: People's
interpretation of the

1034
00:40:37,010 --> 00:40:40,480
situation is not quite as
officially scientific.

1035
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:42,340
Still, you get a lot.

1036
00:40:42,340 --> 00:40:44,060
If the person in charge doesn't
seem like they know

1037
00:40:44,060 --> 00:40:46,020
what they're doing, particularly
in a white coat,

1038
00:40:46,020 --> 00:40:48,950
doesn't seem like an advanced
scientist, pushes way back the

1039
00:40:48,950 --> 00:40:50,310
authority the person.

1040
00:40:50,310 --> 00:40:54,490
If the experimenter is more
formal but away from you so

1041
00:40:54,490 --> 00:40:55,930
you don't see them-- they're
talking to you over an

1042
00:40:55,930 --> 00:40:57,130
intercom or something--

1043
00:40:57,130 --> 00:40:59,610
that pushes you back to
do it less likely.

1044
00:40:59,610 --> 00:41:01,970
If the victim is in the
same room as you are,

1045
00:41:01,970 --> 00:41:02,880
that reduces it.

1046
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,820
Although still 40%
go all the way.

1047
00:41:05,820 --> 00:41:07,920
If you have to touch the person
while the person's

1048
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:10,050
being shocked, that
reduces it.

1049
00:41:10,050 --> 00:41:11,640
And if you have a
confederate--

1050
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:13,510
another person working
with you on this--

1051
00:41:13,510 --> 00:41:15,800
who rebels, that also
has a huge effect.

1052
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,870
This idea again if there's one
dissenter, that frees you

1053
00:41:18,870 --> 00:41:22,430
sometimes to follow your
own ideas and thoughts.

1054
00:41:22,430 --> 00:41:25,190
But these one dissenters
are set up who

1055
00:41:25,190 --> 00:41:27,170
becomes that one dissenter.

1056
00:41:27,170 --> 00:41:31,890
OK, the famous Stanford
prison experiment.

1057
00:41:31,890 --> 00:41:33,500
Same idea, roughly speaking.

1058
00:41:33,500 --> 00:41:35,860
And unbelievably relevant
to Abu Ghraib.

1059
00:41:35,860 --> 00:41:38,070
It's almost as if from the
viewpoint of psychologists

1060
00:41:38,070 --> 00:41:41,640
they had rerun the Stanford
experiment except in Iraq with

1061
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:44,240
real prisoners and American
soldiers.

1062
00:41:44,240 --> 00:41:46,420
But in the Stanford prison
experiment, there was a social

1063
00:41:46,420 --> 00:41:48,770
situation where they basically
told people that they would be

1064
00:41:48,770 --> 00:41:51,050
either the prisoners or
the guards, Stanford

1065
00:41:51,050 --> 00:41:53,500
undergraduates.

1066
00:41:53,500 --> 00:41:56,300
And they would put them in the
basement of their psychology

1067
00:41:56,300 --> 00:41:58,300
building and they would
use various closets

1068
00:41:58,300 --> 00:42:01,010
as the pretend cells.

1069
00:42:01,010 --> 00:42:02,150
You were assigned
to be randomly

1070
00:42:02,150 --> 00:42:03,500
a guard or a prisoner.

1071
00:42:03,500 --> 00:42:05,780
To make it a little bit more
realistic, they surprised you

1072
00:42:05,780 --> 00:42:06,480
when they picked you up.

1073
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:07,720
You had signed up.

1074
00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:10,110
But they would run to your house
and a guy would grab you

1075
00:42:10,110 --> 00:42:12,720
and say, you're coming now
and you're the prisoner.

1076
00:42:12,720 --> 00:42:14,690
There's a little play acting
in this as well.

1077
00:42:14,690 --> 00:42:16,400
And what they found was
that the guards--

1078
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,390
the Stanford students who were
randomly assigned to be

1079
00:42:18,390 --> 00:42:22,160
guards-- became so sadistic, and
the Stanford students who

1080
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,710
were the prisoners were so
stressed-- that the study was

1081
00:42:24,710 --> 00:42:25,530
stopped in six days.

1082
00:42:25,530 --> 00:42:26,780
They were going to do 24 days.

1083
00:42:26,780 --> 00:42:30,500
Because people were sobbing,
people were doing horrible

1084
00:42:30,500 --> 00:42:32,280
things to one another.

1085
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:35,230
Here's pictures of the
Stanford-- this reminds you of

1086
00:42:35,230 --> 00:42:35,920
Abu Ghraib, right?

1087
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:37,660
All lined up like that.

1088
00:42:37,660 --> 00:42:39,920
Typical Stanford students
who were dressed

1089
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:41,280
up and given a baton.

1090
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:45,100
And they were just horrible,
horrible, horrible, horrible.

1091
00:42:45,100 --> 00:42:49,250
Playing the role of the prison
guards, they became abusive

1092
00:42:49,250 --> 00:42:53,390
and mean to an astounding
degree.

1093
00:42:53,390 --> 00:42:57,090
And so again, this idea now--

1094
00:42:57,090 --> 00:42:59,470
weirdly enough, the only
authority here is Phil

1095
00:42:59,470 --> 00:43:00,940
Zimbardo, the social
psychologist, who said your

1096
00:43:00,940 --> 00:43:02,560
job is to be the guard
and your job

1097
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:04,260
is to be the prisoner.

1098
00:43:04,260 --> 00:43:06,180
So anybody could have stopped
sort of at anything.

1099
00:43:06,180 --> 00:43:09,120
But once they got playing these
roles, it took them only

1100
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:13,450
a few hours to really occupy the
life of the sadistic guard

1101
00:43:13,450 --> 00:43:16,660
and the life of the victimized
prisoner.

1102
00:43:16,660 --> 00:43:21,230
So think of this thing in Abu
Ghraib where you had a huge

1103
00:43:21,230 --> 00:43:24,690
number of prisoners, a very
small number of American

1104
00:43:24,690 --> 00:43:27,800
soldiers, very few of the
American soldiers had any

1105
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,840
training about how to think
about being a guard.

1106
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:33,340
It was almost as if you had
rerun the Stanford prison

1107
00:43:33,340 --> 00:43:34,480
experiment.

1108
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:38,670
Add to it fear on both sides of
harm that's intended by the

1109
00:43:38,670 --> 00:43:39,560
other groups.

1110
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:41,470
Add to it the cultural
divisions between the

1111
00:43:41,470 --> 00:43:45,020
Americans and the Iraqis, so
they really felt like the

1112
00:43:45,020 --> 00:43:46,210
other group was another group.

1113
00:43:46,210 --> 00:43:48,490
I mean, you know here at
Stanford in the basement that

1114
00:43:48,490 --> 00:43:50,780
these were your other
students.

1115
00:43:50,780 --> 00:43:52,675
Half the room could be the
guards here, Half the room

1116
00:43:52,675 --> 00:43:53,840
could be the prisoners here.

1117
00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,640
Nobody has been allowed to
rerun this because the

1118
00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,770
behavior was so horrible, so
fast, that there's nobody--

1119
00:43:59,770 --> 00:44:01,083
that you're simply just not
allowed to do an experiment

1120
00:44:01,083 --> 00:44:02,333
like that again.

1121
00:44:04,420 --> 00:44:07,390
And here again is a picture of
the guards, the students

1122
00:44:07,390 --> 00:44:09,120
randomly chosen to
be the guards.

1123
00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:10,190
And here's one of the
students randomly

1124
00:44:10,190 --> 00:44:12,050
chosen to be the prisoner.

1125
00:44:12,050 --> 00:44:13,290
It looks just like Abu Ghraib.

1126
00:44:13,290 --> 00:44:18,080
It's as if the Army should
have heard about that

1127
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:20,755
experiment before that.

1128
00:44:20,755 --> 00:44:23,330
And here's more pictures
of the sort of abuse.

1129
00:44:23,330 --> 00:44:26,460
And you could find lots of
videos online about that.

1130
00:44:26,460 --> 00:44:28,550
OK so I'm going to jump
forward to this.

1131
00:44:28,550 --> 00:44:30,970
So again we could think, again,
the more you know about

1132
00:44:30,970 --> 00:44:34,800
this, how free was this person
to do the right thing.

1133
00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:37,690
And how situationally dominated
were they by

1134
00:44:37,690 --> 00:44:39,900
authority and by the situation
that around them.

1135
00:44:39,900 --> 00:44:42,430
If you think about the Milgram
experiment, who's your

1136
00:44:42,430 --> 00:44:43,920
commander in charge of you.

1137
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:46,580
If you think about the Zimbardo
experiment, you have

1138
00:44:46,580 --> 00:44:51,270
the job of being the guard.

1139
00:44:51,270 --> 00:44:54,490
And is she really a bad person,
or did you put her a

1140
00:44:54,490 --> 00:44:59,140
hopeless situation
to do a good job?

1141
00:44:59,140 --> 00:45:02,320
So the last thing I want to
talk-- let's talk about that

1142
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:02,750
for one second.

1143
00:45:02,750 --> 00:45:03,420
Any thoughts?

1144
00:45:03,420 --> 00:45:04,670
How would you find her?

1145
00:45:07,090 --> 00:45:08,040
Yes?

1146
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:10,730
AUDIENCE: What kind of
torture [INAUDIBLE]?

1147
00:45:10,730 --> 00:45:12,350
PROFESSOR: What kind of abuse
was in the prison?

1148
00:45:12,350 --> 00:45:15,630
Well, from what one reads, and
who knows how accurate exactly

1149
00:45:15,630 --> 00:45:21,460
that is, one person did die.

1150
00:45:21,460 --> 00:45:24,670
Not much of it was the torture
of the sort of water boarding

1151
00:45:24,670 --> 00:45:25,720
that you hear about.

1152
00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:28,690
It was more scaring the heck out
of them and embarrassing

1153
00:45:28,690 --> 00:45:30,520
them horribly.

1154
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:33,140
Taking a bunch of people, having
them all be naked, and

1155
00:45:33,140 --> 00:45:37,160
piling them up, putting them on
a leash, I'm sure it wasn't

1156
00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:38,180
physically nice.

1157
00:45:38,180 --> 00:45:40,680
It wasn't brutal in
the most sense.

1158
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:44,410
It was more taunting
and humiliating.

1159
00:45:44,410 --> 00:45:48,210
But there was some pain
involved as well.

1160
00:45:48,210 --> 00:45:49,680
It wasn't murderous.

1161
00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:52,230
You could say that limit.

1162
00:45:52,230 --> 00:45:52,520
Yes?

1163
00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:54,734
AUDIENCE: Has anyone been
able to do a follow up?

1164
00:45:54,734 --> 00:45:56,660
I mean, I know given the
circumstances [INAUDIBLE].

1165
00:45:56,660 --> 00:45:57,880
PROFESSOR: It's almost
impossible.

1166
00:45:57,880 --> 00:45:58,750
The same thing with
the Milgram.

1167
00:45:58,750 --> 00:46:01,860
We did a little bit in 2009 with
these limitations, right.

1168
00:46:01,860 --> 00:46:03,890
But the amazing thing is
it looks just like--

1169
00:46:03,890 --> 00:46:07,240
as far as they took it-- just
like the 1950s Milgram.

1170
00:46:07,240 --> 00:46:12,080
The Stanford experiment, people
now think ethically you

1171
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:12,820
can't do that.

1172
00:46:12,820 --> 00:46:16,360
Because not only is the
behavior of the guards

1173
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:20,500
abysmal, but the people who were
the prisoners were really

1174
00:46:20,500 --> 00:46:23,000
depressed afterwards, were
really anxious afterwards.

1175
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:25,730
It wasn't like stepping in
and out of an experiment.

1176
00:46:25,730 --> 00:46:28,070
As were, by the way, the Milgram
subjects who went all

1177
00:46:28,070 --> 00:46:28,760
the way up.

1178
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:31,350
They reported being haunted
by this experience for

1179
00:46:31,350 --> 00:46:32,490
many years to come.

1180
00:46:32,490 --> 00:46:34,250
So these kinds of things people
would not do now,

1181
00:46:34,250 --> 00:46:38,450
because it's just considered
too risky for the

1182
00:46:38,450 --> 00:46:38,990
participants.

1183
00:46:38,990 --> 00:46:39,488
Yes?

1184
00:46:39,488 --> 00:46:44,468
AUDIENCE: So the Stanford
people, the students that were

1185
00:46:44,468 --> 00:46:48,706
participating in it, did they
go on to live normal lives

1186
00:46:48,706 --> 00:46:48,960
[INAUDIBLE]?

1187
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:50,260
PROFESSOR: Oh, what's the
long-term damage?

1188
00:46:50,260 --> 00:46:51,130
That's a very good question.

1189
00:46:51,130 --> 00:46:53,090
I don't know they're being
followed up or-- that's a very

1190
00:46:53,090 --> 00:46:53,690
good question.

1191
00:46:53,690 --> 00:46:56,210
I know for months, the people,
especially with the prisoners,

1192
00:46:56,210 --> 00:46:58,900
said they felt very,
very, very bad.

1193
00:46:58,900 --> 00:47:01,410
But I don't know if
decades later they

1194
00:47:01,410 --> 00:47:02,150
followed them up or not.

1195
00:47:02,150 --> 00:47:05,820
And that would be an interesting
question.

1196
00:47:05,820 --> 00:47:06,751
Yes?

1197
00:47:06,751 --> 00:47:10,679
AUDIENCE: Do they consider
[INAUDIBLE]

1198
00:47:10,679 --> 00:47:14,116
for instance, if someone were
knowledgeable in psychology

1199
00:47:14,116 --> 00:47:15,366
[INAUDIBLE]

1200
00:47:18,490 --> 00:47:20,430
they had been trained
for in psychology?

1201
00:47:20,430 --> 00:47:21,680
PROFESSOR: Yes.

1202
00:47:24,770 --> 00:47:27,150
It's not so much psychology,
I'd say.

1203
00:47:27,150 --> 00:47:28,740
I'm going to give you my
impression, because I don't

1204
00:47:28,740 --> 00:47:29,645
have a good answer.

1205
00:47:29,645 --> 00:47:32,280
It's if you get the right kind
of training so you're prepared

1206
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:34,360
for situation, you have
much better chance.

1207
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:36,490
So remember earlier we talked
about-- now it seems very

1208
00:47:36,490 --> 00:47:38,150
academic compared to
these experiments--

1209
00:47:38,150 --> 00:47:40,550
we talked about cognitive
busyness.

1210
00:47:40,550 --> 00:47:44,810
That if your mind is not free to
evaluate the situation, you

1211
00:47:44,810 --> 00:47:46,830
interpret it in terms
of disposition.

1212
00:47:46,830 --> 00:47:48,490
So what does that mean?

1213
00:47:48,490 --> 00:47:52,200
In a scary, complicated
situation, we go by our guts.

1214
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:56,240
And our guts are, the other
person is different.

1215
00:47:56,240 --> 00:47:59,140
I'm in charge of them
as the guard, right?

1216
00:47:59,140 --> 00:48:01,990
If we're trained so that we
have a second habit we can

1217
00:48:01,990 --> 00:48:04,910
fall back on, then we have a
better chance of doing the

1218
00:48:04,910 --> 00:48:08,350
right thing when the
situation arises.

1219
00:48:08,350 --> 00:48:09,380
This is a general point.

1220
00:48:09,380 --> 00:48:11,370
But yes, just sending in people
kind of unprepared--

1221
00:48:11,370 --> 00:48:13,720
it's not that they have to know
psychology, it's that

1222
00:48:13,720 --> 00:48:16,430
they have to be told again and
again and again, when you're

1223
00:48:16,430 --> 00:48:20,630
the guard, keep in mind that
it's so easy to be abusive.

1224
00:48:20,630 --> 00:48:24,490
It's so easy to be humiliating,
that you have to

1225
00:48:24,490 --> 00:48:25,740
guard against that
in yourself.

1226
00:48:25,740 --> 00:48:26,770
Does that seem OK?

1227
00:48:26,770 --> 00:48:27,020
Yes.

1228
00:48:27,020 --> 00:48:30,200
So it's training we think is--

1229
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:31,400
it's not the intellectual
knowledge.

1230
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,450
It's practicing so that when
the moment arises, you're

1231
00:48:34,450 --> 00:48:37,780
ready, is I think what people
believe is right thing.

1232
00:48:37,780 --> 00:48:38,580
OK.

1233
00:48:38,580 --> 00:48:40,780
So last thing I want to talk
about, a couple of things, is

1234
00:48:40,780 --> 00:48:41,735
bystanders and helping.

1235
00:48:41,735 --> 00:48:44,040
And these are just amazing
experiments.

1236
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:47,170
And in many ways, they're all
about embarrassment, and how

1237
00:48:47,170 --> 00:48:50,530
embarrassment makes us
incredibly less helpful and

1238
00:48:50,530 --> 00:48:54,100
kind to others than
we can imagine.

1239
00:48:54,100 --> 00:48:58,030
So the most famous case that
began a lot of this research

1240
00:48:58,030 --> 00:49:00,650
was they murder in New York
City of Kitty Genovese.

1241
00:49:00,650 --> 00:49:01,970
And I'm going to read
to you just a

1242
00:49:01,970 --> 00:49:03,320
minute about her murder.

1243
00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:06,720
It got a fantastic amount
of newspaper coverage.

1244
00:49:06,720 --> 00:49:10,540
And this was the walk home
she had to her apartment.

1245
00:49:10,540 --> 00:49:13,970
So at approximately 3:20 in the
morning of March 13, 1964,

1246
00:49:13,970 --> 00:49:17,000
28-year old Catherine Genovese
was returning to her home a

1247
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,210
nice middle-class area
of Queens from her

1248
00:49:19,210 --> 00:49:20,410
job as a bar manager.

1249
00:49:20,410 --> 00:49:23,240
She parked her red Fiat at a
nearby parking lot, turned off

1250
00:49:23,240 --> 00:49:25,010
the lights and started the
walk to her second floor

1251
00:49:25,010 --> 00:49:27,690
apartment some 35 yards away.

1252
00:49:27,690 --> 00:49:30,580
She got as far as a street light
when a man grabbed her.

1253
00:49:30,580 --> 00:49:31,490
She screamed.

1254
00:49:31,490 --> 00:49:33,930
The lights went on in a 10
floor apartment building

1255
00:49:33,930 --> 00:49:35,570
nearby, so a lot of people.

1256
00:49:35,570 --> 00:49:36,770
She yelled, "Oh, my God.

1257
00:49:36,770 --> 00:49:37,480
He stabbed me.

1258
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:39,100
Please help me." Windows
opened in

1259
00:49:39,100 --> 00:49:39,870
the apartment building.

1260
00:49:39,870 --> 00:49:43,230
A man's voice shouted, "Let that
girl alone." The attacker

1261
00:49:43,230 --> 00:49:46,470
looked up, shrugged, and walked
off down the street.

1262
00:49:46,470 --> 00:49:48,000
Ms. Genovese struggled
to her feet.

1263
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:49,860
Lights went back off
in the apartment.

1264
00:49:49,860 --> 00:49:53,140
The attacker comes immediately
back and stabs her again.

1265
00:49:53,140 --> 00:49:54,680
She again cries out,
"I'm dying.

1266
00:49:54,680 --> 00:49:57,490
I'm dying." Again, the lights
come on, and the windows open

1267
00:49:57,490 --> 00:49:59,760
in many of the nearby
apartments.

1268
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:01,860
The assailant again left
and got into his

1269
00:50:01,860 --> 00:50:03,040
car and drove away.

1270
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:05,760
She staggers to her feet as
a city bus drives by.

1271
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:07,250
It's 3:30 in the morning now.

1272
00:50:07,250 --> 00:50:09,290
The attacker returns again.

1273
00:50:09,290 --> 00:50:11,880
He finds her in the doorway at
foot of the stairs and he

1274
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:14,075
stabs her a third time, this
time with a fatal consequence.

1275
00:50:14,075 --> 00:50:16,560
It's 3:50, OK?

1276
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:21,100
Half an hour when the police
received the first call.

1277
00:50:21,100 --> 00:50:23,490
They responded quickly, and
within two minutes they were

1278
00:50:23,490 --> 00:50:24,170
at the scene.

1279
00:50:24,170 --> 00:50:25,370
She was already dead.

1280
00:50:25,370 --> 00:50:26,110
The only person--

1281
00:50:26,110 --> 00:50:28,830
well, the one person to call
was a neighbor who revealed

1282
00:50:28,830 --> 00:50:31,900
that he had phoned only after
much thought and an earlier

1283
00:50:31,900 --> 00:50:33,100
phone call to a friend.

1284
00:50:33,100 --> 00:50:34,330
So he doesn't call the police.

1285
00:50:34,330 --> 00:50:36,220
He calls a friend and says, hmm,
I wonder what I should do

1286
00:50:36,220 --> 00:50:37,560
here, right?

1287
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:40,050
And he said, I didn't want
to get involved.

1288
00:50:40,050 --> 00:50:42,280
Later, it was learned that there
were 37 other witnesses

1289
00:50:42,280 --> 00:50:44,700
to the stalking and stabbing
over the half hour period.

1290
00:50:44,700 --> 00:50:47,450
Why did no one offer any help
or call the police?

1291
00:50:47,450 --> 00:50:48,860
The story and question
were front page

1292
00:50:48,860 --> 00:50:49,890
news across the country.

1293
00:50:49,890 --> 00:50:52,430
Urban and moral decay, apathy,
indifference where some of the

1294
00:50:52,430 --> 00:50:53,970
many offered explanations.

1295
00:50:53,970 --> 00:50:56,390
This was one of these cases that
people said, this shows

1296
00:50:56,390 --> 00:50:59,420
you how bad off we are,
especially in cities, where

1297
00:50:59,420 --> 00:51:02,070
people just don't care
about other people.

1298
00:51:02,070 --> 00:51:02,720
OK.

1299
00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:06,380
They won't make a phone call
to the police, except one

1300
00:51:06,380 --> 00:51:10,200
person hemming and hawing his
way for half an hour.

1301
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:14,000
So the lack of the bystanders
helping this woman, is it

1302
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:15,950
because people are selfish?

1303
00:51:15,950 --> 00:51:18,380
Nowadays, you can bet you'd
have a video of that on

1304
00:51:18,380 --> 00:51:19,100
YouTube, right?

1305
00:51:19,100 --> 00:51:21,710
The question was what about
the rest of it?

1306
00:51:21,710 --> 00:51:22,210
[INAUDIBLE]

1307
00:51:22,210 --> 00:51:25,360
my life, fear of getting hurt,
what would you have done?

1308
00:51:25,360 --> 00:51:27,460
Now, let me tell you--

1309
00:51:27,460 --> 00:51:29,570
you'll see the punch line in a
moment-- is the more people

1310
00:51:29,570 --> 00:51:31,400
around who could help, the
more certain you are that

1311
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:33,690
nobody's going to help.

1312
00:51:33,690 --> 00:51:37,450
The last thing you want to get
help is a bunch of people.

1313
00:51:37,450 --> 00:51:38,200
OK?

1314
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,860
The best chance you have
is one person,

1315
00:51:40,860 --> 00:51:42,910
counter-intuitively
and against the

1316
00:51:42,910 --> 00:51:44,260
math of multiple people.

1317
00:51:44,260 --> 00:51:45,430
So here we go.

1318
00:51:45,430 --> 00:51:47,750
So the most famous studies--
and show you about three of

1319
00:51:47,750 --> 00:51:50,320
them, because they're
just amazing--

1320
00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:52,900
about how we won't
help people.

1321
00:51:52,900 --> 00:51:55,670
Because if we're not sure what
the right thing to do is, and

1322
00:51:55,670 --> 00:51:58,750
there's other people there, it's
too embarrassing to do

1323
00:51:58,750 --> 00:52:02,930
the most obvious humanitarian
gesture.

1324
00:52:02,930 --> 00:52:04,310
They did a series of
experiments, most of them

1325
00:52:04,310 --> 00:52:06,590
around Princeton,
looking at ideas

1326
00:52:06,590 --> 00:52:07,850
about pluralistic ignorance.

1327
00:52:07,850 --> 00:52:09,750
They say, each witness is
uncertain whether there's a

1328
00:52:09,750 --> 00:52:11,155
real emergency, they
look around, if

1329
00:52:11,155 --> 00:52:12,330
the others not reacting--

1330
00:52:12,330 --> 00:52:14,020
this probably part of the
story-- decide it must not be

1331
00:52:14,020 --> 00:52:14,990
real emergency.

1332
00:52:14,990 --> 00:52:18,160
Social evaluation of others,
what are they doing?

1333
00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:20,280
Diffusion of responsibility,
each person felt that somebody

1334
00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:21,170
else is going to get help.

1335
00:52:21,170 --> 00:52:23,470
So these are parts of the
story, but here's the

1336
00:52:23,470 --> 00:52:24,820
experiments.

1337
00:52:24,820 --> 00:52:27,410
You arrive for an experiment to
discuss personal problems.

1338
00:52:27,410 --> 00:52:27,930
You signed up.

1339
00:52:27,930 --> 00:52:28,745
You're a Princeton
undergraduate.

1340
00:52:28,745 --> 00:52:29,850
You show up.

1341
00:52:29,850 --> 00:52:31,830
There's one to four
people put in

1342
00:52:31,830 --> 00:52:33,470
different rooms over intercoms.

1343
00:52:33,470 --> 00:52:36,860
So it's one person sometimes
alone or two at

1344
00:52:36,860 --> 00:52:39,200
two different intercoms.

1345
00:52:39,200 --> 00:52:42,400
One person, the confederate,
over the intercom,

1346
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:45,800
dramatically enacts a person
having a seizure.

1347
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:46,090
All right.

1348
00:52:46,090 --> 00:52:47,770
So imagine you're a student.

1349
00:52:47,770 --> 00:52:49,980
And one of these people, who
you believe is randomly

1350
00:52:49,980 --> 00:52:52,390
another student, starts
to say, I think I

1351
00:52:52,390 --> 00:52:53,870
need somebody here--

1352
00:52:53,870 --> 00:52:54,370
dramatically.

1353
00:52:54,370 --> 00:52:55,410
I can do well enough--

1354
00:52:55,410 --> 00:52:57,350
because I've got one of the
seizures coming on.

1355
00:52:57,350 --> 00:52:59,790
I could really use some help,
if somebody could help me,

1356
00:52:59,790 --> 00:53:00,890
somebody could help.

1357
00:53:00,890 --> 00:53:01,630
Choking sounds.

1358
00:53:01,630 --> 00:53:02,300
I'm going to die.

1359
00:53:02,300 --> 00:53:03,640
I'm going to die.

1360
00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:04,500
Choking sound.

1361
00:53:04,500 --> 00:53:07,250
The intercom goes quiet.

1362
00:53:07,250 --> 00:53:10,430
What do you do?

1363
00:53:10,430 --> 00:53:14,810
Well, if there's two of you,
about 80% of the time, you're

1364
00:53:14,810 --> 00:53:16,200
going to do something.

1365
00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:19,020
If there are six if you, only
30% of the time will anybody

1366
00:53:19,020 --> 00:53:20,780
do anything.

1367
00:53:20,780 --> 00:53:22,042
Yes?

1368
00:53:22,042 --> 00:53:24,838
AUDIENCE: I think sometimes
it's also people

1369
00:53:24,838 --> 00:53:25,770
can be really selfish.

1370
00:53:25,770 --> 00:53:30,390
I heard recently in a Johns
Hopkins examination that was

1371
00:53:30,390 --> 00:53:32,840
just a few months ago, somebody
started having a

1372
00:53:32,840 --> 00:53:35,780
seizure in the middle of the
exam, and not a single person

1373
00:53:35,780 --> 00:53:40,515
stopped their test to help
them, not even the TA.

1374
00:53:40,515 --> 00:53:42,140
PROFESSOR: So you're saying
people can be really selfish,

1375
00:53:42,140 --> 00:53:43,100
because at Johns Hopkins--

1376
00:53:43,100 --> 00:53:44,340
AUDIENCE: It was their exam.

1377
00:53:44,340 --> 00:53:44,990
They didn't want to stop.

1378
00:53:44,990 --> 00:53:45,870
PROFESSOR: They had an exam.

1379
00:53:45,870 --> 00:53:47,360
And somebody started
having a seizure.

1380
00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:49,630
And neither the students nor
the teaching assistant did

1381
00:53:49,630 --> 00:53:50,680
anything to help the person.

1382
00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:51,480
AUDIENCE: For a long time.

1383
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:52,290
PROFESSOR: For a long time.

1384
00:53:52,290 --> 00:53:53,270
OK.

1385
00:53:53,270 --> 00:53:55,120
So you're going to
call it selfish.

1386
00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:57,520
And I'm going to agree, in
some sense, that's true.

1387
00:53:57,520 --> 00:53:58,890
But I'm going to tell you,
it's amazingly--

1388
00:53:58,890 --> 00:54:00,080
I didn't hear about
the story-- it's

1389
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:02,770
exactly this thing.

1390
00:54:02,770 --> 00:54:04,285
Everything-- and I'll
show you, I

1391
00:54:04,285 --> 00:54:05,480
think, three more examples--

1392
00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:08,410
every experiment shows that if
it's just you and one person,

1393
00:54:08,410 --> 00:54:11,846
you are incredibly more likely
to help that person than if

1394
00:54:11,846 --> 00:54:14,210
it's you among five people
or 10 people.

1395
00:54:14,210 --> 00:54:17,900
The more people, the more
certain you are to do nothing.

1396
00:54:17,900 --> 00:54:19,120
And I'm going to tell you
in a moment-- this

1397
00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:20,300
is an amazing example--

1398
00:54:20,300 --> 00:54:22,260
why the exam matters, too.

1399
00:54:22,260 --> 00:54:22,680
OK?

1400
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:25,030
Because these experiments will
show you that this is deeply

1401
00:54:25,030 --> 00:54:26,370
human, unfortunately.

1402
00:54:26,370 --> 00:54:26,950
OK.

1403
00:54:26,950 --> 00:54:27,810
Deeply human.

1404
00:54:27,810 --> 00:54:31,090
And I think it's not that
we're more selfish.

1405
00:54:31,090 --> 00:54:32,950
It's that that were terrible
at knowing--

1406
00:54:32,950 --> 00:54:34,630
this is a question about this--
we're terrible about

1407
00:54:34,630 --> 00:54:37,720
knowing what to do under
unusual circumstances.

1408
00:54:37,720 --> 00:54:41,450
And we're overcome by
wanting to fit in.

1409
00:54:41,450 --> 00:54:42,810
You look at that person, they're
not doing anything.

1410
00:54:42,810 --> 00:54:44,070
They look at you, you're
not doing anything.

1411
00:54:44,070 --> 00:54:45,450
You look at that person.

1412
00:54:45,450 --> 00:54:47,490
And you guys are-- you're having
a face-off of not doing

1413
00:54:47,490 --> 00:54:48,970
anything while the
person's sort of

1414
00:54:48,970 --> 00:54:50,770
sinking into their seizure.

1415
00:54:50,770 --> 00:54:53,050
And you could think it's all
about selfishness not helping.

1416
00:54:53,050 --> 00:54:57,230
But we think it's something
weirdly about humans that in

1417
00:54:57,230 --> 00:55:00,250
groups, they don't know how
to act if it's unusual.

1418
00:55:00,250 --> 00:55:01,900
They just don't know
how to do it.

1419
00:55:01,900 --> 00:55:03,720
By themselves, incredibly
more likely to help.

1420
00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:04,470
So here's an example.

1421
00:55:04,470 --> 00:55:05,160
I'll show you a couple more.

1422
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:05,770
Was there a hand?

1423
00:55:05,770 --> 00:55:07,045
Yes?

1424
00:55:07,045 --> 00:55:09,570
AUDIENCE: Is this
showing the--

1425
00:55:09,570 --> 00:55:10,410
PROFESSOR: This is
a percentage of

1426
00:55:10,410 --> 00:55:11,130
participants who helped.

1427
00:55:11,130 --> 00:55:12,200
So are you asking the math?

1428
00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:13,992
Are you still better off--

1429
00:55:13,992 --> 00:55:16,813
AUDIENCE: Is this the percentage
of the time the

1430
00:55:16,813 --> 00:55:17,930
person received help or--

1431
00:55:17,930 --> 00:55:18,370
PROFESSOR: Yes.

1432
00:55:18,370 --> 00:55:19,640
This is a percentage of help.

1433
00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:21,740
You're right that you're still
better off with six, but I'll

1434
00:55:21,740 --> 00:55:24,210
show you that very often, it
doesn't play out that way.

1435
00:55:24,210 --> 00:55:25,900
But you're right.

1436
00:55:25,900 --> 00:55:27,940
There's a trade-off between the
sheer number of people and

1437
00:55:27,940 --> 00:55:28,870
the likelihood per person.

1438
00:55:28,870 --> 00:55:30,390
You're absolutely right.

1439
00:55:30,390 --> 00:55:31,470
That varies a little bit.

1440
00:55:31,470 --> 00:55:34,580
Here's another one called
lady in distress.

1441
00:55:34,580 --> 00:55:37,590
A subject walks alone or with a
passive confederate, so the

1442
00:55:37,590 --> 00:55:39,360
confederate is set
up to do nothing.

1443
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:42,470
Or with a friend, a real friend,
you come as a pair.

1444
00:55:42,470 --> 00:55:44,900
And used you go into a room
that's separated by a curtain.

1445
00:55:44,900 --> 00:55:46,930
The experimenter goes
to the other room.

1446
00:55:46,930 --> 00:55:49,780
In this case, they made it
a woman at the time.

1447
00:55:49,780 --> 00:55:53,060
Turns on a tape recording
of a huge fall,

1448
00:55:53,060 --> 00:55:54,060
much bigger than that.

1449
00:55:54,060 --> 00:55:55,130
Boom.

1450
00:55:55,130 --> 00:55:56,580
She's around a curtain.

1451
00:55:56,580 --> 00:56:01,180
And she start moaning, a
pre-recorded, painful moan.

1452
00:56:01,180 --> 00:56:03,800
You are sitting on the other
side of the curtain.

1453
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:07,490
Who gets up to go see what
happened to the experimenter

1454
00:56:07,490 --> 00:56:09,870
who sounds like they had
a huge fall and are

1455
00:56:09,870 --> 00:56:11,350
moaning with pain.

1456
00:56:11,350 --> 00:56:12,370
This is very much like
the example you

1457
00:56:12,370 --> 00:56:13,720
said almost, right?

1458
00:56:13,720 --> 00:56:15,120
What do the people do?

1459
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:17,170
So here's what happens.

1460
00:56:17,170 --> 00:56:20,900
If you're by yourself, a 70%
chance you'll go there.

1461
00:56:20,900 --> 00:56:22,590
You could wonder what's
happening to the other 30%,

1462
00:56:22,590 --> 00:56:23,940
but OK, that's still--

1463
00:56:23,940 --> 00:56:25,190
OK.

1464
00:56:26,990 --> 00:56:29,750
If the other person sits there
who's set up to not do

1465
00:56:29,750 --> 00:56:35,260
anything, practically nobody
ever go and helps.

1466
00:56:35,260 --> 00:56:36,560
Because you're sitting
there, and the other

1467
00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:37,260
person's not doing it.

1468
00:56:37,260 --> 00:56:38,680
And you're going, well,
I don't know.

1469
00:56:38,680 --> 00:56:40,090
It's kind of weird situation.

1470
00:56:40,090 --> 00:56:42,940
Am I invading a person's
privacy?

1471
00:56:42,940 --> 00:56:44,430
Maybe that wasn't what
I thought I was.

1472
00:56:44,430 --> 00:56:45,720
Because the other person doesn't
seem to be doing

1473
00:56:45,720 --> 00:56:47,780
anything, because
they're set up.

1474
00:56:47,780 --> 00:56:49,230
If there's two people who
are naive, you're

1475
00:56:49,230 --> 00:56:50,460
somewhere in between.

1476
00:56:50,460 --> 00:56:53,060
If you come with a friend,
somewhere in between.

1477
00:56:53,060 --> 00:56:54,570
But here's the weird thing.

1478
00:56:54,570 --> 00:56:56,760
The more people, the more you
kind of try to figure out,

1479
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:57,800
what's the right thing to do?

1480
00:56:57,800 --> 00:56:58,822
And you're not doing
anything, so I'm

1481
00:56:58,822 --> 00:56:59,620
not going to do anything.

1482
00:56:59,620 --> 00:57:01,460
The other person's saying you--
does that make sense?

1483
00:57:01,460 --> 00:57:03,920
Every one of these, the more
people there are, the more

1484
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:06,090
people don't know what to
do, and they do nothing.

1485
00:57:06,090 --> 00:57:08,110
Because they don't want to
do something weird and

1486
00:57:08,110 --> 00:57:10,440
embarrassing like make trouble
or not do what

1487
00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:11,620
you're supposed to do.

1488
00:57:11,620 --> 00:57:12,640
Here's another one.

1489
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:13,880
Where there's smoke,
there's fire.

1490
00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:14,920
Subjects filling out survey.

1491
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:18,410
Smoke enters through a vent.

1492
00:57:18,410 --> 00:57:20,365
You're doing this survey alone,
in a group of three or

1493
00:57:20,365 --> 00:57:23,460
with two confederate's who
notice but ignore the smoke,

1494
00:57:23,460 --> 00:57:25,040
or a friend you bring
with you.

1495
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:28,270
So who leaves the room within
six minutes to go get help

1496
00:57:28,270 --> 00:57:32,720
when smoke is billowing
into your room?

1497
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:34,480
As you sit there again-- this
is like the Milgram

1498
00:57:34,480 --> 00:57:35,700
experiment-- you go, well,
of course I would do it.

1499
00:57:35,700 --> 00:57:38,130
But amazingly, people are
sitting there trying to figure

1500
00:57:38,130 --> 00:57:41,810
out, should I finish this first,
is this really a fire,

1501
00:57:41,810 --> 00:57:42,970
what's going on here?

1502
00:57:42,970 --> 00:57:46,080
Alone, 75% of the people get up
within six minutes and go

1503
00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:48,590
tell somebody, there's smoke
billowing into here.

1504
00:57:48,590 --> 00:57:50,410
With two passive confederate--
so people set up to do

1505
00:57:50,410 --> 00:57:52,840
nothing-- only 10% of the time
does the individual get up and

1506
00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:53,780
go tell anybody.

1507
00:57:53,780 --> 00:57:55,530
You look around the other two
people aren't doing anything,

1508
00:57:55,530 --> 00:57:59,290
you figure well, that must
be the right thing to do.

1509
00:57:59,290 --> 00:58:01,850
Two naive subjects--

1510
00:58:01,850 --> 00:58:03,500
now that we're doing
the math this way--

1511
00:58:03,500 --> 00:58:07,680
12% by individuals, so
a third of the groups

1512
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:09,690
approximately do something.

1513
00:58:09,690 --> 00:58:11,760
That's still pretty low.

1514
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:14,600
But if you go interestingly in
with a friend, that number

1515
00:58:14,600 --> 00:58:16,580
goes up-- a person you really
know and trust.

1516
00:58:16,580 --> 00:58:19,100
Because the interpretation is,
if it's somebody, you know,

1517
00:58:19,100 --> 00:58:20,110
you're not going to
be embarrassed.

1518
00:58:20,110 --> 00:58:22,090
You can say to that person,
well, this is a little wacky,

1519
00:58:22,090 --> 00:58:24,760
but shouldn't we go tell
somebody there's smoke here or

1520
00:58:24,760 --> 00:58:26,760
somebody collapsed next door?

1521
00:58:26,760 --> 00:58:28,660
And then the friend goes, yes,
it's probably a good idea.

1522
00:58:28,660 --> 00:58:30,250
I don't know, but maybe we
should do that, right?

1523
00:58:30,250 --> 00:58:31,730
But if you don't know the
person, you're not to have

1524
00:58:31,730 --> 00:58:32,700
that conversation.

1525
00:58:32,700 --> 00:58:36,480
So a friend is very powerful
to release you from this.

1526
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:38,900
But if you don't know
the other people--

1527
00:58:38,900 --> 00:58:39,772
yes?

1528
00:58:39,772 --> 00:58:40,756
AUDIENCE: Does it make
a difference if

1529
00:58:40,756 --> 00:58:41,371
it's a family member?

1530
00:58:41,371 --> 00:58:43,216
Like if you [INAUDIBLE]?

1531
00:58:43,216 --> 00:58:45,350
PROFESSOR: I don't know that
they've done this.

1532
00:58:45,350 --> 00:58:48,010
So these are usually done with
undergraduates, so you just

1533
00:58:48,010 --> 00:58:50,030
bring your roommate
or your pal.

1534
00:58:50,030 --> 00:58:51,990
I don't if it matters
at other levels.

1535
00:58:51,990 --> 00:58:52,970
So that's a very
good question.

1536
00:58:52,970 --> 00:58:53,820
And maybe people
looked at that.

1537
00:58:53,820 --> 00:58:56,990
I just don't know.

1538
00:58:56,990 --> 00:58:58,320
This is the last experiment.

1539
00:58:58,320 --> 00:59:00,060
And this is kind of the
topper of all of this.

1540
00:59:00,060 --> 00:59:01,740
So this gets back to being
in an exam situation.

1541
00:59:01,740 --> 00:59:03,650
I'm glad you brought
up the --.

1542
00:59:03,650 --> 00:59:06,730
Because this is almost
an ironic experiment

1543
00:59:06,730 --> 00:59:07,830
in a deepest sense.

1544
00:59:07,830 --> 00:59:09,670
It's again Darley
at Princeton.

1545
00:59:09,670 --> 00:59:10,550
A Good Samaritan.

1546
00:59:10,550 --> 00:59:15,590
So what's the story of the Good
Samaritan from the Bible

1547
00:59:15,590 --> 00:59:16,310
for those--

1548
00:59:16,310 --> 00:59:16,770
yes?

1549
00:59:16,770 --> 00:59:19,530
AUDIENCE: Pretty much
this guy who's dying

1550
00:59:19,530 --> 00:59:21,840
of thirst on a highway.

1551
00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:23,920
PROFESSOR: Somebody really
injured on the side of the

1552
00:59:23,920 --> 00:59:24,435
road, right?

1553
00:59:24,435 --> 00:59:24,720
AUDIENCE: Yes.

1554
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:25,970
It was somebody who needs
help in life.

1555
00:59:25,970 --> 00:59:29,534
And a bunch of people go by
one person at a time.

1556
00:59:29,534 --> 00:59:32,468
First person goes by,
doesn't do anything.

1557
00:59:32,468 --> 00:59:33,446
Second person doesn't
do anything.

1558
00:59:33,446 --> 00:59:35,900
Third person called the
Good Samaritan --

1559
00:59:35,900 --> 00:59:37,300
PROFESSOR: He's from Samaria.

1560
00:59:37,300 --> 00:59:38,220
AUDIENCE: All right.

1561
00:59:38,220 --> 00:59:38,550
PROFESSOR: OK.

1562
00:59:38,550 --> 00:59:38,640
No.

1563
00:59:38,640 --> 00:59:40,443
I'm just telling
you that's it.

1564
00:59:40,443 --> 00:59:42,898
AUDIENCE: Sorry--.

1565
00:59:42,898 --> 00:59:43,389
PROFESSOR: No, it's good.

1566
00:59:43,389 --> 00:59:43,715
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

1567
00:59:43,715 --> 00:59:47,480
The third guy looks down
at the injured man, and

1568
00:59:47,480 --> 00:59:48,310
he helps him out.

1569
00:59:48,310 --> 00:59:48,740
PROFESSOR: Yes.

1570
00:59:48,740 --> 00:59:51,810
Now, I'm going to tell you
one more thing, which is

1571
00:59:51,810 --> 00:59:55,630
Samaritans we're not the most
affluent members of

1572
00:59:55,630 --> 00:59:56,610
society at the time.

1573
00:59:56,610 --> 00:59:59,730
This matters for the story in
a way you're about to hear.

1574
00:59:59,730 --> 01:00:01,600
So a Good Samaritan.

1575
01:00:01,600 --> 01:00:03,600
So they took students--
now, think about this.

1576
01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:07,770
Because they want to show you
how absurdly weird it is when

1577
01:00:07,770 --> 01:00:10,410
it is we're willing to step
forward and help a person.

1578
01:00:10,410 --> 01:00:12,280
And I don't think it's
about goodness.

1579
01:00:12,280 --> 01:00:14,860
It's about the weirdness
of our minds and not

1580
01:00:14,860 --> 01:00:16,220
embarrassing ourselves.

1581
01:00:16,220 --> 01:00:20,090
And how preoccupied we are
with our other business.

1582
01:00:20,090 --> 01:00:22,590
So social psychologists are
going to tell you the reason

1583
01:00:22,590 --> 01:00:25,750
the Good Samaritan stopped
was not because he

1584
01:00:25,750 --> 01:00:26,950
was such a good guy.

1585
01:00:26,950 --> 01:00:31,090
It's because he didn't
have so much to do.

1586
01:00:31,090 --> 01:00:32,040
And here's the experiment.

1587
01:00:32,040 --> 01:00:33,290
They're going to tell you why.

1588
01:00:35,770 --> 01:00:38,950
These are seminary students
studying to become ministers.

1589
01:00:38,950 --> 01:00:40,590
So this is the group.

1590
01:00:40,590 --> 01:00:43,270
They picked this group because
they want to show you-- social

1591
01:00:43,270 --> 01:00:46,600
psychologists get irritated by
personality psychologists.

1592
01:00:46,600 --> 01:00:48,840
They say, can you pick a nicer
group than people studying to

1593
01:00:48,840 --> 01:00:51,520
be ministers?

1594
01:00:51,520 --> 01:00:52,770
That's the disposition.

1595
01:00:56,500 --> 01:00:57,560
They're filling out
surveys about

1596
01:00:57,560 --> 01:00:59,630
religious values in a room.

1597
01:00:59,630 --> 01:01:01,210
They're told that they're going
to have to present a

1598
01:01:01,210 --> 01:01:06,350
talk about either seminary
jobs or--

1599
01:01:06,350 --> 01:01:07,990
so this is careerism--

1600
01:01:07,990 --> 01:01:12,040
or a sermon on the
Good Samaritan.

1601
01:01:12,040 --> 01:01:13,670
So you're sitting there going,
help people, help

1602
01:01:13,670 --> 01:01:16,430
people, help people.

1603
01:01:16,430 --> 01:01:17,970
All right. that's
their speech.

1604
01:01:17,970 --> 01:01:19,910
They're prepared.

1605
01:01:19,910 --> 01:01:23,130
Then they're released to go
give this talk in front of

1606
01:01:23,130 --> 01:01:25,450
other faculty members and their
students, so they want

1607
01:01:25,450 --> 01:01:26,770
to do a good job.

1608
01:01:26,770 --> 01:01:29,090
Either they're sent to the
building across the campus

1609
01:01:29,090 --> 01:01:31,340
ahead of time, plenty of time.

1610
01:01:31,340 --> 01:01:32,950
On time, they have--
or they're late.

1611
01:01:32,950 --> 01:01:34,370
They go, oh, my gosh,
you didn't go over?

1612
01:01:34,370 --> 01:01:35,355
We told you you should be--

1613
01:01:35,355 --> 01:01:36,690
you're going to be--
if you don't run,

1614
01:01:36,690 --> 01:01:38,010
you're going to be late.

1615
01:01:38,010 --> 01:01:41,100
You don't want to be late to
give your practice sermon or

1616
01:01:41,100 --> 01:01:42,730
speech to the faculty committee

1617
01:01:42,730 --> 01:01:46,100
waiting for you, right.

1618
01:01:46,100 --> 01:01:47,680
And then here's one more
thing to keep in mind.

1619
01:01:47,680 --> 01:01:49,470
Some of you probably have
visited Princeton, New

1620
01:01:49,470 --> 01:01:51,390
Jersey-- just to give
you a sense of this.

1621
01:01:51,390 --> 01:01:55,880
This is even back in the
1960s, but even now--

1622
01:01:55,880 --> 01:01:58,920
so who's been to Princeton
University?

1623
01:01:58,920 --> 01:01:59,350
You have?

1624
01:01:59,350 --> 01:01:59,790
OK.

1625
01:01:59,790 --> 01:02:06,300
Scary urban environment full
of threatening noises, the

1626
01:02:06,300 --> 01:02:08,410
campus itself?

1627
01:02:08,410 --> 01:02:13,040
Pastoral place full of eating
clubs and references F. Scott

1628
01:02:13,040 --> 01:02:15,490
Fitzgerald.

1629
01:02:15,490 --> 01:02:17,290
I'm just adding in that
Princeton is a pretty

1630
01:02:17,290 --> 01:02:20,000
nonthreatening place,
the campus itself.

1631
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:21,170
I'm just adding this in,
because you've got

1632
01:02:21,170 --> 01:02:21,500
to keep this in.

1633
01:02:21,500 --> 01:02:23,470
OK.

1634
01:02:23,470 --> 01:02:24,550
Here's the confederate.

1635
01:02:24,550 --> 01:02:29,230
It's a man slumped in a doorway
moaning in obvious

1636
01:02:29,230 --> 01:02:32,670
pain, hunched over on the ground
going, uh, uh, uh.

1637
01:02:32,670 --> 01:02:36,260
Now, on the path to giving the
speech, who stops to help?

1638
01:02:39,590 --> 01:02:42,000
Anything they could measure
about the personalities in

1639
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:46,840
individuals made no difference
whether you stopped to help.

1640
01:02:46,840 --> 01:02:50,130
Whether you were saying stop to
help, stop to help, stop to

1641
01:02:50,130 --> 01:02:52,110
help, because you were going to
give a talk about the Good

1642
01:02:52,110 --> 01:02:57,260
Samaritan or going to talk about
career paths doesn't

1643
01:02:57,260 --> 01:02:58,900
make any difference at all.

1644
01:02:58,900 --> 01:03:01,490
So amazingly, the people's
zooming by this injured person

1645
01:03:01,490 --> 01:03:03,440
are saying, stop and help the
person, stop and-- the guy's

1646
01:03:03,440 --> 01:03:06,790
moaning in the doorway
next to them--

1647
01:03:06,790 --> 01:03:09,510
as they're walking, sorry.

1648
01:03:09,510 --> 01:03:12,270
What counts as to who stops?

1649
01:03:12,270 --> 01:03:12,780
They're by themselves.

1650
01:03:12,780 --> 01:03:13,910
So it's not a group thing now.

1651
01:03:13,910 --> 01:03:15,520
They're by themselves, right?

1652
01:03:15,520 --> 01:03:17,590
It's if they're ahead of time.

1653
01:03:17,590 --> 01:03:20,610
If they have time, because they
know they can stop and

1654
01:03:20,610 --> 01:03:25,670
help somebody and still make
their talk on time, 63% stop,

1655
01:03:25,670 --> 01:03:30,370
45% if it's going to be close
call, 10% if they're rushing,

1656
01:03:30,370 --> 01:03:31,725
because they're going
to be late.

1657
01:03:35,220 --> 01:03:38,020
The description you set up, a
big group of people taking an

1658
01:03:38,020 --> 01:03:39,460
exam, they're like this.

1659
01:03:39,460 --> 01:03:41,500
They're pressured, their
pressured, they're pressured.

1660
01:03:41,500 --> 01:03:42,560
And there's a lot of us.

1661
01:03:42,560 --> 01:03:44,640
Somebody's going to take care
this if they need to.

1662
01:03:44,640 --> 01:03:48,090
And I've got things to do,
like take an exam.

1663
01:03:48,090 --> 01:03:51,920
Or run over and explain how
incredibly important it is

1664
01:03:51,920 --> 01:03:55,960
morally to help those who are
injured and around you, right?

1665
01:03:55,960 --> 01:04:01,970
So it can have a more sort of
literary experiment showing

1666
01:04:01,970 --> 01:04:06,780
you how weird it is when we
stop and help people.

1667
01:04:06,780 --> 01:04:07,682
Yes?

1668
01:04:07,682 --> 01:04:09,158
AUDIENCE: This happened
on campus.

1669
01:04:09,158 --> 01:04:10,634
I was walking back to
one of the dorms.

1670
01:04:10,634 --> 01:04:14,324
And I walked by and I saw feet
sticking out of a bush, like

1671
01:04:14,324 --> 01:04:15,554
someone had collapsed
into a bush.

1672
01:04:15,554 --> 01:04:17,891
I didn't quite believe it at
first, so I stopped the next

1673
01:04:17,891 --> 01:04:19,982
person and asked, are
there feet there?

1674
01:04:19,982 --> 01:04:21,700
Is that actually what
I'm seeing?

1675
01:04:21,700 --> 01:04:23,943
So eventually, we called the
police, but the response from

1676
01:04:23,943 --> 01:04:25,306
most of the people going
by, one was, I'm

1677
01:04:25,306 --> 01:04:26,028
sorry, I can't stop.

1678
01:04:26,028 --> 01:04:27,471
I'm late for MITSO.

1679
01:04:27,471 --> 01:04:28,914
I have to go pset.

1680
01:04:28,914 --> 01:04:31,800
So a lot of people just went
by and didn't stop.

1681
01:04:31,800 --> 01:04:31,910
PROFESSOR: OK.

1682
01:04:31,910 --> 01:04:33,960
So you're giving a story in real
life, on the campus here.

1683
01:04:33,960 --> 01:04:34,470
AUDIENCE: Yes, exactly.

1684
01:04:34,470 --> 01:04:36,250
PROFESSOR: Where two feet were
sticking out from a bush.

1685
01:04:36,250 --> 01:04:37,250
AUDIENCE: Yes [INAUDIBLE].

1686
01:04:37,250 --> 01:04:37,550
AUDIENCE: All right.

1687
01:04:37,550 --> 01:04:39,960
PROFESSOR: No, no, no, no.

1688
01:04:39,960 --> 01:04:41,190
This is not a set up.

1689
01:04:41,190 --> 01:04:44,280
You're not a confederate.

1690
01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:45,570
So first, you wanted to
ask somebody else.

1691
01:04:45,570 --> 01:04:46,600
And but this really
interesting.

1692
01:04:46,600 --> 01:04:46,955
I mean--

1693
01:04:46,955 --> 01:04:47,700
AUDIENCE: To make sure
[INAUDIBLE].

1694
01:04:47,700 --> 01:04:47,900
PROFESSOR: Yes, yes.

1695
01:04:47,900 --> 01:04:48,890
Because that's the first
thing, right?

1696
01:04:48,890 --> 01:04:50,310
Like, yes, what do you think?

1697
01:04:50,310 --> 01:04:51,380
Good idea to have a body here?

1698
01:04:51,380 --> 01:04:54,970
Bad idea to have a body here?

1699
01:04:54,970 --> 01:04:56,960
And another person walks by and
say what-- we'd like your

1700
01:04:56,960 --> 01:04:58,110
opinion before we do anything.

1701
01:04:58,110 --> 01:05:00,280
And the person says,
I can't stop.

1702
01:05:00,280 --> 01:05:01,470
I have things to do, right?

1703
01:05:01,470 --> 01:05:02,570
I have homework.

1704
01:05:02,570 --> 01:05:03,250
Yes.

1705
01:05:03,250 --> 01:05:04,550
It's astounding.

1706
01:05:04,550 --> 01:05:08,630
So I'll just stop with saying,
it makes you think-- you used

1707
01:05:08,630 --> 01:05:09,880
the word selfish.

1708
01:05:09,880 --> 01:05:10,840
And that-- no, no.

1709
01:05:10,840 --> 01:05:11,670
I don't mean to pick on you.

1710
01:05:11,670 --> 01:05:14,840
But it's just weird how
humans are like this.

1711
01:05:14,840 --> 01:05:16,010
You see this all the time.

1712
01:05:16,010 --> 01:05:20,120
For me personally, all of
these things have really

1713
01:05:20,120 --> 01:05:23,050
changed how I interpret
situations, and how much I

1714
01:05:23,050 --> 01:05:25,110
think a person's a
crummy person.

1715
01:05:25,110 --> 01:05:27,110
Because up until the fundamental
attribution error,

1716
01:05:27,110 --> 01:05:28,990
although I always gave myself
every break for doing

1717
01:05:28,990 --> 01:05:32,230
everything wrong, I always
interpreted other people's

1718
01:05:32,230 --> 01:05:34,930
failings as deep character
flaws, right?

1719
01:05:34,930 --> 01:05:39,610
And it has made me personally
stop and think.

1720
01:05:39,610 --> 01:05:41,960
If somebody's not doing
something I wish they did or

1721
01:05:41,960 --> 01:05:44,730
that I think would be better,
maybe from their perspective,

1722
01:05:44,730 --> 01:05:49,690
they're in a situation that's
compelling them to perform

1723
01:05:49,690 --> 01:05:52,030
less well than I think they
should or something like that.

1724
01:05:52,030 --> 01:05:54,650
So these are unbelievably
fascinating things and very

1725
01:05:54,650 --> 01:05:56,100
convincing.

1726
01:05:56,100 --> 01:05:59,370
And it's very sad when they set
up prisons not remembering

1727
01:05:59,370 --> 01:06:01,050
these lessons that
are so clear cut.

1728
01:06:01,050 --> 01:06:03,380
And I think the huge thing to
know about this, as far as we

1729
01:06:03,380 --> 01:06:07,650
possibly understand, this is
true of everybody, all of us.

1730
01:06:07,650 --> 01:06:09,300
None of us think we
would do this.

1731
01:06:09,300 --> 01:06:11,400
All of us are prone
to do this.

1732
01:06:11,400 --> 01:06:14,940
Through many, many, many
experiments, without any

1733
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evidence to the contrary, from
a scientific viewpoint, it's

1734
01:06:17,520 --> 01:06:20,330
about as convincing a story
as you can possibly have.

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Thanks very much.