Question

PLEASE DISCUSS

The first reason revolved around the idea that as long as the teachers followed directions given by the researcher , they didn't seem bothered by what they did as they were "just following orders". In addition to this, when the situation became more serious and it appeared that the teachers were putting the learner in severe pain, they looked to the researcher to accept responsibility for inflecting the pain as a means to displace the guilt of hurting the learner and continue with the study. When it comes to solutions as to avoid such a enormous form of pressure I think the biggest factor would be a moral check on if what you were doing was right or wrong. I think what kept people from not participating is that the shocks the were administrating didn't seem to be extremely painful but despite learning eventually that the intensity would have been causing severe pain they relied on the excuse of doing what they were told to avoid being responsible for their actions.

Answer 1

The given article discusses morals, values and ethics in an experiment setting. In this case the idea is that unless someone is held responsible for inflicting pain, harm or trouble to others they do not feel that they are ethically responsible for it. The experiment seems to be set between teachers and students where students are asked to perform some task, when failing to do so students are administered with a shock. The motive behind this experiment is that the students will do the task efficiently and with more concentration while knowing that not being able to perform the task will end in them getting a shock. In the initial stages teachers tend to show little to less bother about the fact that students are in pain of receiving the shock and hold the researchers responsible for the act but when the pain increases they tend to look upon the researchers to take responsibility for the trouble the students are experiencing. Here an ethical question arises that why are the teachers not taking responsibility and asking the researchers to form the experiment in a different manner. This can be a because of prosocial behaviour where the teachers feel that they need not worry about the students as someone is in control and can take the appropriate actions if required.