ABC Radio National’s Radio Eye has one of the best documentaries on Milgram’s conformity experiments that I’ve ever heard. It follows up several of the people who took part in the original experiment and weaves their stories into the audio from the original and chilling tapes of the actual sessions.
You’ll have to be quick because the audio is only online for another week or two and it’s a 50-minute must-listen programme that is wonderfully produced.
The tapes of the actual sessions are remarkable and you can feel the psychological tension as the study progresses.
As well as being a detailed guide to the study, it’s a fascinating look at the experience of taking part in a process that had as much impact for the ethical changes that it triggered as for the implications for what we know about conformity and social pressure.
Link to Radio Eye ‘Beyond the Shock Machine’ (via AITM Blog).
I read about the UNA-bomber on wikipedia recently, and apparently he was part of a psychological experiment, “an extremely stressful and prolonged psychological attack by an anonymous attorney.”
Even tho these test truly expose the darker sides of humanity, the ethical filters of today are needed..