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Politics, Mature and taboo => Political Pundits => Topic started by: Calavera on December 01, 2011, 07:30:05 PM

Title: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Calavera on December 01, 2011, 07:30:05 PM
... unless you read a lot of interesting books or you're into psychology big time, that is.

I'll just post some YouTube videos for you to view:

Milgram Experiment
BBC - Milgram Experiment (Electric Shock) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIzju84v24#ws)

Stanford Prison Experiment
Stanford Prison Experiment (Documentary) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkmQZjZSjk4#)

Bystander Effect
THE BYSTANDER EFFECT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac#)
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Pyraxis on December 01, 2011, 07:34:55 PM
 :plus: Those are some good ones.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Parts on December 01, 2011, 07:40:30 PM
 I had hear of these before but knew that people were fucked up long before I did which is one of the reasons I like to avoid them when I can.  The bystander one is tricky I stopped and tried to help a guy who was bleeding pretty bad from cuts his face once in college when he began attacking the car I was in and screaming at us.  That dampened my willingness to help people at times unless they look harmless.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Calavera on December 01, 2011, 07:52:48 PM
I had hear of these before but knew that people were fucked up long before I did which is one of the reasons I like to avoid them when I can.  The bystander one is tricky I stopped and tried to help a guy who was bleeding pretty bad from cuts his face once in college when he began attacking the car I was in and screaming at us.  That dampened my willingness to help people at times unless they look harmless.

To be fair, there is only partial truth to the bystander effect. It depends on various factors really. Quite a few people are just exceptionally helpful to others when needed, for example. Other factors involve the number of people around in such situations, your capabilities (or lack of capabilities) to help, whether or not you know the person in need of help, your role in society (are you a police officer or someone whose duty is to help), what the cultural expectations are, what traditional background you're from, religious/secular mentality, and so on.

Also, let's not forget the core rule of the bystander effect. The larger the crowd, the less likely any person in the crowd would make the first move to help. The smaller the crowd, the better.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: PuppetSockPenguin on December 01, 2011, 07:53:03 PM
Heard of all of them but I read a lot of interesting books AND I'm into psychology big time. :)
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Scrapheap on December 01, 2011, 08:53:42 PM
The banality of evil....   ::)
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Adam on December 01, 2011, 09:40:17 PM
I have heard of them before but they are interesting yes

and I only  read interesting books :green:
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Adam on December 01, 2011, 09:51:12 PM
I mostly got into things like this from my interest in WW2 , therefore the holocaust shit I read. I ended up getting into general psychology stuff. I think it helps to be aware of what is making you tick, and what kind of thing s you're likely to do in certain situations. you can actively change that if you're conscious of it beforehand. evolutionary psychology is interesting from that point of view.

I would never claim to be morally superior to everyone else because of what I've read (and definitely could never sit here and say what I would do in a concentation camp or something equally big), but I'd like to think that I am more likely to do the "right" thing now in situations like the third video.  I hope so anyway
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Callaway on December 01, 2011, 10:01:53 PM
Here's a recreation of the Stanley Milgram experiment:

Milgram's Obedience to Authority Experiment 2009 1/3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk#)
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Calavera on December 01, 2011, 10:25:24 PM
I mostly got into things like this from my interest in WW2 , therefore the holocaust shit I read. I ended up getting into general psychology stuff. I think it helps to be aware of what is making you tick, and what kind of thing s you're likely to do in certain situations. you can actively change that if you're conscious of it beforehand. evolutionary psychology is interesting from that point of view.

I would never claim to be morally superior to everyone else because of what I've read (and definitely could never sit here and say what I would do in a concentation camp or something equally big), but I'd like to think that I am more likely to do the "right" thing now in situations like the third video.  I hope so anyway

Yes, one good thing about knowing about all this is that it raises our awareness of what human nature is really like and this is what can lead us to act more appropriately than if we had never learned about these experiments.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: renaeden on December 01, 2011, 11:09:50 PM
Here's a recreation of the Stanley Milgram experiment:

I posted that one somewhere here recently. I didn't think they would get away with doing that one again tbh.

Here is another example of bystander effect. I find it really disturbing. I learnt about it in my first year of psych.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese)
http://www.homicidesquad.com/kitty_genovese.htm (http://www.homicidesquad.com/kitty_genovese.htm)

Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Calavera on December 01, 2011, 11:36:13 PM
Here's a recreation of the Stanley Milgram experiment:

I posted that one somewhere here recently. I didn't think they would get away with doing that one again tbh.

Here is another example of bystander effect. I find it really disturbing. I learnt about it in my first year of psych.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese)
http://www.homicidesquad.com/kitty_genovese.htm (http://www.homicidesquad.com/kitty_genovese.htm)

Not sure if this is true or not, but I read lately that the Kitty Genovese story was exaggerated ... which is why I didn't include a vid on it in the OP.

But I hear you on the disturbing bit. My sister's first year studying psychology involved all the experiments mentioned in the OP, and when I found out that's what she was learning, I was actually concerned she might be affected by it. But she's taken this more calmly than I did when I first learned about them. :cbc:
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: renaeden on December 01, 2011, 11:59:26 PM
Yeah I heard about the Kitty Genovese story being exaggerated as well...but doesn't that happen with a lot of things. Whichever way, what happened to her was tragic I think.

The Prison experiment I knew about before going to uni and the other two I learnt about in my first year as well.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: El on December 02, 2011, 05:59:37 AM
Heard of all of them but I read a lot of interesting books AND I'm into psychology big time. :)
Ditto.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Calavera on December 02, 2011, 06:21:48 AM
Yeah I heard about the Kitty Genovese story being exaggerated as well...but doesn't that happen with a lot of things. Whichever way, what happened to her was tragic I think.

The Prison experiment I knew about before going to uni and the other two I learnt about in my first year as well.

Just realized the second link you provided actually makes the case it was exaggerated.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Icequeen on December 02, 2011, 02:01:33 PM
I had hear of these before but knew that people were fucked up long before I did which is one of the reasons I like to avoid them when I can.  The bystander one is tricky I stopped and tried to help a guy who was bleeding pretty bad from cuts his face once in college when he began attacking the car I was in and screaming at us.  That dampened my willingness to help people at times unless they look harmless.

Even then it's iffy. Old guy used to thumb a ride down the road from us all the time, harmless-looking, 70 something, grandfatherly type.

Crazy as a fucking loon with about 30 imaginary friends.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: renaeden on December 03, 2011, 01:05:12 AM
^This reminds me of when I was in the city with a friend and a group of people walked up to us. One of them asked me for a dollar to help with bus fare. So I got my wallet out and opened it. About four of them pounced on me and tried to get my wallet off me but they couldn't. I was forced down on the ground and hurt my knee pretty badly. But I kind of rolled onto my back and started kicking out at them so they gave up and left.

I asked my friend afterwards why didn't she help me and she said she thought I was messing around. ::) Why would I mess around with people I had never seen before? Anyway since then I tend not to give any money to people who ask for it. I just say I don't have any.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: "couldbecousin" on May 18, 2013, 10:25:36 AM
^This reminds me of when I was in the city with a friend and a group of people walked up to us. One of them asked me for a dollar to help with bus fare. So I got my wallet out and opened it. About four of them pounced on me and tried to get my wallet off me but they couldn't. I was forced down on the ground and hurt my knee pretty badly. But I kind of rolled onto my back and started kicking out at them so they gave up and left.

I asked my friend afterwards why didn't she help me and she said she thought I was messing around. ::) Why would I mess around with people I had never seen before? Anyway since then I tend not to give any money to people who ask for it. I just say I don't have any.

    :plus:   for kicking the scumbags away from you!  I have the same reason for not wanting to open my purse.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: McGiver on May 19, 2013, 07:35:54 AM
Ordinary people will do fucked up things when fucked up things become ordinary.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Parts on May 19, 2013, 04:13:02 PM
Ordinary people will do fucked up things when fucked up things become ordinary.

Good one  :plus:
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Calavera on May 19, 2013, 06:33:56 PM
Oh, wow, this thread was started like a year ago or so. Now that I'm majoring in Psychology, I feel like such an amateur the way I posted the OP.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Jack on May 19, 2013, 06:38:52 PM
No, it's a good thread, says the amateur.

Edit: My posts are all ones.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: McGiver on May 19, 2013, 06:42:18 PM
Oh, wow, this thread was started like a year ago or so. Now that I'm majoring in Psychology, I feel like such an amateur the way I posted the OP.
if you posted all uppity and shit it would have Ben a lonely thread....and shit.
Title: Re: Disturbing things about human nature that you probably never heard of
Post by: Yuri Bezmenov on January 25, 2020, 10:12:51 PM
The banality of evil....   ::)

 :indeed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmBSIQ1lkOA