Summary:
Chapter 1: The Dilemma of Obedience
This chapter talks about the meaning of obedience. It describes the experiment done to test the obedience of individuals. What was found was most people were very obedient when it came to shocking people even if they thought there was a lot of danger. This led to to the reasons behind the obedience. Such as, people don't feel responsible for their actions if they are being told to do something by a superior. An example used is the Nazi's in Germany.
Chapter 2: Method of Inquiry
The line between being obedient and disobedient is described at the beginning of this chapter. Recruits for this shock experiment were taken from the entire New Haven community. A wide variety of individuals responded and were used in the experiment. The rest of the chapter describes how the experiment was set up and conducted.
Chapter 3: Expected Behavior
This chapter provides results of what people would expect people to do when placed in the situation of shocking another. Most people want to view themselves in favorable light and do not think about other variables in an unknown social situation.
Chapter 4: Closeness of the Victim
The first experiment described has it setup where the subject cannot hear or see the person being shocked. 26 out of 40 people obeyed the instructor until the end of the experiment. The victim was then brought closer where they could be seen through a silvered glass. The victim was brought closer and closer from silvered glass, to vocal range, seeing range, same room, then they were asked to touch the person. The closer the victim the more disobedient people were.
Chapter 5: Individuals Confront Authority
The experiment's goal was to just see if an individual was obedient or disobedient. This chapter explains that it is important to note the comments and experiences of each individual because of the different variables they bring to the experiment. Several subjects are described in the rest of the chapter.
Chapter 6: Further Variations and Controls
A fifth experiment was explained where the lab the experiment was conducted in the basement of the lab at Yale. Milgram wanted to see if the less impressive lab in the basement had any effect on the outcome. The victim was also told to express concerns of having a small heart problem. The results concluded that these two new factors didn't have any conclusive effect on the outcome.
Experiment six checked to see if the appearance and personality of the experimenter and victim were a major factor. The roles were reversed and the results showed that it didn't really matter.
Experiment seven removed the experimenter from the room and gave orders by telephone. The results of this showed that this was a major effect on the situation. When orders were given over the phone people were not as obedient.
Experiment eight used women as subjects. The results were pretty much the same as men.
Experiment nine used a contract between the subject and victim. About half of the people still went to the end.
Experiment ten moved experiment sites to an office building in Bridgeport to have complete dissociation from Yale University. The obedience level was slightly lower but not significantly.
Experiment eleven allowed the subject to shock at any level they wanted to. Most of the subjects didn't go above the lowest level shock.
Chapter 7: Individuals Confront Authority II
This chapter describes the effect the experiment had on more individuals and what they thought.
Chapter 8: Role Permutations
Experiment twelve reversed the roles of the experimenter and the victim. The victim would demand to be shocked and the experimenter would plead for the subject not to do it. Every single subject listened to the experimenter and stopped when asked.
Experiment thirteen used what seemed to be ordinary men working together with the subject to do the experiment. The subject does the shocking but no shock level is specified. The experimenter gets a phone call and leaves the room. One of the ordinary men suggests that they increase the shock level every time a mistake is made. Most of the subjects broke with the ordinary man and didn't comply.
Experiment thirteen a happened when the subject refused to go along with the ordinary man. If the subject wouldn't do it then he was asked to switch places with the man. Most people refused to go along with it and took action against him.
Experiment fourteen puts the subject in a situation where he must shock the experimenter to prove to the victim that it is alright. Every subject stopped shocking when the experimenter cried for them to stop.
Experiment fifteen used two experimenters instead of one. These experimenters gave conflicting commands. Most people stopped when or close to when the argument started. Nobody took advantage of the opportunity to continue shocking until the end,
Experiment sixteen used two experimenters but one of them acted as the victim. This experiment showed that the experimenter in the chair did not fair any better than the original victim. He lost all of his power he had as an authority. People in this experiment either stopped when they were asked by the victim or kept going all the way like in the original experiment.
Discussion:
I was kind of amazed after reading this at how many different experiments were done. From reading in Opening Skinner's Box I knew about the experiment but had no idea it was done this many times with this many variations. So, it was cool to see what experiments were conducted and very interesting to see the results and how they changed the subjects actions.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Full Blog For "Opening Skinner's Box"
This book was about different people and their experiments and how they have impacted our world today.
The beginning of the book introduced Skinner and how people think of him. People think he is scary and his name is startling. Skinner's experiments were based on animals and making them do certain things for food. These experiments are famous because they have to do with the idea of free will and why we do certain things as humans.
The following experiments are discussed in the book.
Stanley Milgram's experiment with obedience to authority where he wanted to see how many people would continuously shock somebody when told to do so even if it appeared to be hurting them badly. This experiment is important because it shows how people think in an unknown environment when instructed by somebody else.
The next experiment is about David Rosenhan's experiment that challenged psychiatric medicine. Rosenhan and several others admitted themselves to a ward and then acted completely normal. The experiment was to see how long it took for the doctors to see they were normal and healthy. It is worth noting that the author of the book also tried something like this and made the comment that it was too easy to get medicine for this and that maybe the doctors were unsure of themselves.
There was also an experiment opposite of Skinner's in chapter 1. It involved dealing with unkown situations when there was no authority around. A room was filled with smoke and an actor was instructed not to react to the smoke. When the actor was present people were hesitant to get help for the smoke but when the actor was removed most people recognized the need to get help when the smoke appeared.
Harry Harlow's experiment with monkeys and how he thought he isolated the variables of love. He showed that baby monkeys preferred a mother that was soft over one that was hard with food. This went badly though when the monkeys couldn't interact with each other socially.
Bruce Alexander's rat park experiment is discussed as well. This dealt with addiction and if it was in our heads or not. He placed rats in a luxury environment called Rat Park and rats in a simple cage. He showed that rats in the simple cage constantly stayed high. This showed that the environment greatly influenced the rat's decision to drink the drugged water.
There are also experiments about memory. The first one deals with Dr. Elizabeth Loftus and her idea that somebody can believe in a memory that doesn't exist if they are led to believe that it does over and over. Her idea was to plant a false memory of being lost in the mall and see how many people would go along with it. The results showed that many people went along with it.
Dr. Scoville's experiment about removing a man's hippocampus is discussed. It was noted that removing this part of the brain removed the man's short term memory. This led to Eric Kandal's experiments with sea slugs. From this he discovered drugs that enhanced and repressed a persons memory.
The last chapter is about lobotomies and the history of them. They have become more sophisticated over time but are still risky and require the approval of an ethics board for somebody to get one done.
Discussion:
I really enjoyed this book because of the variety of topics covered. Even for similar topics such as memory, there were different experiments done. I liked how the author reflected on each experiment and how it has impacted our society today.
The beginning of the book introduced Skinner and how people think of him. People think he is scary and his name is startling. Skinner's experiments were based on animals and making them do certain things for food. These experiments are famous because they have to do with the idea of free will and why we do certain things as humans.
The following experiments are discussed in the book.
Stanley Milgram's experiment with obedience to authority where he wanted to see how many people would continuously shock somebody when told to do so even if it appeared to be hurting them badly. This experiment is important because it shows how people think in an unknown environment when instructed by somebody else.
The next experiment is about David Rosenhan's experiment that challenged psychiatric medicine. Rosenhan and several others admitted themselves to a ward and then acted completely normal. The experiment was to see how long it took for the doctors to see they were normal and healthy. It is worth noting that the author of the book also tried something like this and made the comment that it was too easy to get medicine for this and that maybe the doctors were unsure of themselves.
There was also an experiment opposite of Skinner's in chapter 1. It involved dealing with unkown situations when there was no authority around. A room was filled with smoke and an actor was instructed not to react to the smoke. When the actor was present people were hesitant to get help for the smoke but when the actor was removed most people recognized the need to get help when the smoke appeared.
Harry Harlow's experiment with monkeys and how he thought he isolated the variables of love. He showed that baby monkeys preferred a mother that was soft over one that was hard with food. This went badly though when the monkeys couldn't interact with each other socially.
Bruce Alexander's rat park experiment is discussed as well. This dealt with addiction and if it was in our heads or not. He placed rats in a luxury environment called Rat Park and rats in a simple cage. He showed that rats in the simple cage constantly stayed high. This showed that the environment greatly influenced the rat's decision to drink the drugged water.
There are also experiments about memory. The first one deals with Dr. Elizabeth Loftus and her idea that somebody can believe in a memory that doesn't exist if they are led to believe that it does over and over. Her idea was to plant a false memory of being lost in the mall and see how many people would go along with it. The results showed that many people went along with it.
Dr. Scoville's experiment about removing a man's hippocampus is discussed. It was noted that removing this part of the brain removed the man's short term memory. This led to Eric Kandal's experiments with sea slugs. From this he discovered drugs that enhanced and repressed a persons memory.
The last chapter is about lobotomies and the history of them. They have become more sophisticated over time but are still risky and require the approval of an ethics board for somebody to get one done.
Discussion:
I really enjoyed this book because of the variety of topics covered. Even for similar topics such as memory, there were different experiments done. I liked how the author reflected on each experiment and how it has impacted our society today.
Book Reading #36 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Chapter 12: Maturity and Old Age
Summary:
The difference between married and non-married woman is discussed. The Samoan culture sees no difference between these married and non-married woman. Woman aren't really affected by the choice to live in the husband's families house or the wife's. The decision affects the men more than the women. Hierarchy of men and women are discussed further also.
Discussion:
This book is interesting because its always interesting to read about the cultural differences. I thought the difference between men and woman in there 20s and 30s was interesting as well. She said the men had a harder time because of their title seeking.
Summary:
The difference between married and non-married woman is discussed. The Samoan culture sees no difference between these married and non-married woman. Woman aren't really affected by the choice to live in the husband's families house or the wife's. The decision affects the men more than the women. Hierarchy of men and women are discussed further also.
Discussion:
This book is interesting because its always interesting to read about the cultural differences. I thought the difference between men and woman in there 20s and 30s was interesting as well. She said the men had a harder time because of their title seeking.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Paper Reading #15: Jogging over a Distance between Europe and Australia
Comments:
1
2
Reference Information:
Title: Jogging over a Distance between Europe and Australia
Authors: Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, Frank Vetere, Martin R. Gibbs, Darren Edge, Stefan Agamanolis,
Jennifer G. Sheridan
Presentation Venue: UIST’10, October 3–6, 2010, New Yomrk, New York, USA
Summary:
This paper is about a project that social joggers can use to have a social experience with others from long distances. A social jogger is somebody who uses jogging to spend time with others to do such things as 'catch up with what is going in their friends life'. A person can choose to jog with anybody in the world and use features that allow communication and a feature that let's each person know if they are running together or ahead or behind the other.
Communication is done with the other person through a headset. The communication channel is through a cell phone that is stored in a mini pouch around the persons waist. Through the headset multiple people can talk to each other from anywhere in the world.
The pacing feature is done through a mini-computer inside the pouch around each persons waste. Before jogging the user must enter a target heart rate so the system has knowledge of what should be average for each user. The heart rate of the user is kept track of during exercise through a wireless heart monitor on the users chest. This system allows people to run together even if they are in completely different condition. If one persons heart rate is above their average jogging heart rate then that means they are running faster. The other user is made aware of this through the headset. The other person will sound like they are running ahead and the other behind. If both users are running at their target heart rate they will sound like they are right next to each other.
Some things worth noting are most users thought this was better than actually running with somebody in person. They felt safer running alone at night because of the constant and direct communication with another person. Most people jogged in parks so headset didn't interfere with traffic sounds.
Discussion:
This was a very interesting paper because from experience I can understand how difficult it is to jog with somebody else. You have to slow down or speed up constantly and it is often hard to communicate because you are breathing so hard or maybe they aren't close enough to you. This system allows each person to run at their own speed but at the same time know how they are doing in real time compared to their partner in case they want to try and keep up with them on an exercise level. This system is also cool because it could allow friends from all over the world to have a social experience in a different way unless maybe they were jogging partners in the past. I think this type of idea is perfect for casual/social joggers. I also like how the results of how each person is doing compared to the other is given in real time and not when they are done jogging.
1
2
Reference Information:
Title: Jogging over a Distance between Europe and Australia
Authors: Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, Frank Vetere, Martin R. Gibbs, Darren Edge, Stefan Agamanolis,
Jennifer G. Sheridan
Presentation Venue: UIST’10, October 3–6, 2010, New Yomrk, New York, USA
Summary:
This paper is about a project that social joggers can use to have a social experience with others from long distances. A social jogger is somebody who uses jogging to spend time with others to do such things as 'catch up with what is going in their friends life'. A person can choose to jog with anybody in the world and use features that allow communication and a feature that let's each person know if they are running together or ahead or behind the other.
Communication is done with the other person through a headset. The communication channel is through a cell phone that is stored in a mini pouch around the persons waist. Through the headset multiple people can talk to each other from anywhere in the world.
The pacing feature is done through a mini-computer inside the pouch around each persons waste. Before jogging the user must enter a target heart rate so the system has knowledge of what should be average for each user. The heart rate of the user is kept track of during exercise through a wireless heart monitor on the users chest. This system allows people to run together even if they are in completely different condition. If one persons heart rate is above their average jogging heart rate then that means they are running faster. The other user is made aware of this through the headset. The other person will sound like they are running ahead and the other behind. If both users are running at their target heart rate they will sound like they are right next to each other.
Some things worth noting are most users thought this was better than actually running with somebody in person. They felt safer running alone at night because of the constant and direct communication with another person. Most people jogged in parks so headset didn't interfere with traffic sounds.
Discussion:
This was a very interesting paper because from experience I can understand how difficult it is to jog with somebody else. You have to slow down or speed up constantly and it is often hard to communicate because you are breathing so hard or maybe they aren't close enough to you. This system allows each person to run at their own speed but at the same time know how they are doing in real time compared to their partner in case they want to try and keep up with them on an exercise level. This system is also cool because it could allow friends from all over the world to have a social experience in a different way unless maybe they were jogging partners in the past. I think this type of idea is perfect for casual/social joggers. I also like how the results of how each person is doing compared to the other is given in real time and not when they are done jogging.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Ethnography Results, Week 5
Week 5:
During week 4 I did a short study on what kind of content users were commenting about. I did this by searching articles for very popular comments, then following the user that made the comment. This week I did a similar observation but instead I observed what people posted about. I took popular articles from the science section and observed the user that made the post.
I picked 5 users that posted the top 5 articles at the time of this observation. The following data includes the user number and the section that they posted in. From this I will try to see if there are any conclusions that can be drawn or looked into.
User 1:
Some things to not about the users are the time range for the posts recorded. User 1 was very active and posted all of the articles within 12 hours of each other. User 2's posts are within 3 months. User 3's posts are within 20 days. User 4's posts are within 4 months. User 5's are within 9 days. This just shows how active each user is.
From this study I wanted to see if the articles popularity was possibly linked to the popularity of the user. If the user constantly posted material in the same section, active users might recognize the user's name. From this data it looks like there are several sections that most of the users posted in, not just the science section with the popular article. If a lot of different users browse these similar sections then the users might be well known in the community. In general though if someone just browsed the science section they would most likely not recognize these users. To me this says that the popularity of these articles are based fully on the content and not the popularity of the user. That is not to say though that the credibility of the user that posted the article does not effect the popularity of the article. A user can view another users 'karma' by viewing their profile. The more karma somebody has the higher their credibility and reputation.
During week 4 I did a short study on what kind of content users were commenting about. I did this by searching articles for very popular comments, then following the user that made the comment. This week I did a similar observation but instead I observed what people posted about. I took popular articles from the science section and observed the user that made the post.
I picked 5 users that posted the top 5 articles at the time of this observation. The following data includes the user number and the section that they posted in. From this I will try to see if there are any conclusions that can be drawn or looked into.
User 1:
· Worldnews x 9
· Business x 2
· News x 3
· Wtf x 3
· Politics x 1
· Sports x 3
User 2:· Science x 3
· Todayilearned x 2
· Reddit.com x 2
User 3:· science x 3
· worldnews x 7
· history
· netsec
· Politics
· Truereddit x 2
· Programming
User 4:· Science
· Worldnews x 5
· Pics x 2
· Reddit.com x 5
· Wtf x 3
· Funny x 2
User 5: · Space x 2
· Netsec x 2
· Physics
· Science
· Technology x 2
· Comics
· Politics
· Reddit.com x 3
· Android x 2
· Pics
· Geek
Some things to not about the users are the time range for the posts recorded. User 1 was very active and posted all of the articles within 12 hours of each other. User 2's posts are within 3 months. User 3's posts are within 20 days. User 4's posts are within 4 months. User 5's are within 9 days. This just shows how active each user is.
From this study I wanted to see if the articles popularity was possibly linked to the popularity of the user. If the user constantly posted material in the same section, active users might recognize the user's name. From this data it looks like there are several sections that most of the users posted in, not just the science section with the popular article. If a lot of different users browse these similar sections then the users might be well known in the community. In general though if someone just browsed the science section they would most likely not recognize these users. To me this says that the popularity of these articles are based fully on the content and not the popularity of the user. That is not to say though that the credibility of the user that posted the article does not effect the popularity of the article. A user can view another users 'karma' by viewing their profile. The more karma somebody has the higher their credibility and reputation.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Book Reading #33 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Chapter 11: The Girl in Conflict
Summary:
This chapter is about girls who deviated from the standard Samoan expectations. The first group of girls described deviated by not accepting their environment and rejected traditional choices. There was no harm in these girl's actions. The next group described are the delinquents. These girls were involved in conflict.
Discussion:
I liked this chapter because most of it was examples of the girls in the village and what their experiences were. This helped me better understand what the author was trying to describe. I think it is interesting to note the differences in the general lifestyle's of all the girls described. These are described at the end of the chaoter in the last paragraph.
Summary:
This chapter is about girls who deviated from the standard Samoan expectations. The first group of girls described deviated by not accepting their environment and rejected traditional choices. There was no harm in these girl's actions. The next group described are the delinquents. These girls were involved in conflict.
Discussion:
I liked this chapter because most of it was examples of the girls in the village and what their experiences were. This helped me better understand what the author was trying to describe. I think it is interesting to note the differences in the general lifestyle's of all the girls described. These are described at the end of the chaoter in the last paragraph.
Book Reading #34 - Opening Skinner's Box
Chapter 10: Chipped
Summary:
Lobotomy was the first breakthrough in helping severly ill mental patients but was questioned ethically due to the way patients were selected and the side effects. After drugs were created that would help mentally ill people lobotomies lost the hype. The procedure has been greatly refined but is now extremely hard to get due to ethical matters. The end of the chapter discusses a person who is permitted to get a lobotomy because he has exhausted all other options and comes out of the surgery cured.
Discussion:
I think its kind of shocking how many aspects of what doctors are doing to our brains is unkown. People take drugs rather than surgery because it feels like they have control and know exactly what is happening, when in fact the doctors don`t even fully understand. One quote that stuck out to me in this chapter was "Our cure is only as good as our courage".
Summary:
Lobotomy was the first breakthrough in helping severly ill mental patients but was questioned ethically due to the way patients were selected and the side effects. After drugs were created that would help mentally ill people lobotomies lost the hype. The procedure has been greatly refined but is now extremely hard to get due to ethical matters. The end of the chapter discusses a person who is permitted to get a lobotomy because he has exhausted all other options and comes out of the surgery cured.
Discussion:
I think its kind of shocking how many aspects of what doctors are doing to our brains is unkown. People take drugs rather than surgery because it feels like they have control and know exactly what is happening, when in fact the doctors don`t even fully understand. One quote that stuck out to me in this chapter was "Our cure is only as good as our courage".
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