France is reeling from a documentary about a psychological experiment disguised as a game show. Researchers staged a fictitious reality show to see how far people would go in obeying authority, especially if television reinforces that authority.
The disturbing results have alarmed the French.
The fictitious game show had all the trappings of a real TV quiz show, including a beautiful and well-known hostess, and a raucous audience. A group of contestants posed questions to a man sitting inside a box in front of them in an electric chair.
The hostess and a chanting audience urged the players — who had levers in front of them — to send jolts of electricity into the man in the box when he gave an incorrect answer.
Even when the player screamed out in pain for them to stop, 80 percent of the contestants kept zapping him. In reality, the man in the electric chair was an actor who wasn't really being shocked — but the players and the audience did not know that.
The documentary makers say reality television relies increasingly on violent, humiliating and cruel acts to boost ratings. They say they simply wanted to see if we would go so far as to kill someone for entertainment.
the French were not only shocked by the actions of their own citizens on this game show, but upon hearing that the story went out to the world, via NPR, France surrendered. :mrgreen:
I heard this story on NPR yesterday. There's a link to the broadcast on this page, as well as an article. It goes to show how most people will go against their own principles under social pressure. Only 20% of contestants refused to shock the fictitious contestant. The audience didn't know it was fictitious, and was urging the players to shock the fictitious contestants.
It's a chilling commentary on human nature, even in a 'civilized' nation in 'enlightened' Western Europe. Listen to the broadcast, it's fascinating.
Fake TV Game Show 'Tortures' Man, Shocks France : NPR
There was a scientific study done a couple of decades back that did a very similar thing and already found this out.
France is just being copy-cats.
If you listen to the NPR story, they do discuss the previous study, FYI
You're thinking of Zimbardo's prison experiment - a controversial experiment not only for its ethics, but in how it should be interpreted.There was a scientific study done a couple of decades back that did a very similar thing and already found this out.
France is just being copy-cats.
You're thinking of Zimbardo's prison experiment - a controversial experiment not only for its ethics, but in how it should be interpreted.
No - This was the Milgram experiment, which was conducted after the start of Adolf Eichmann's trial in 1961. The actual purpose of the experiment was to see if Eichmann's agenda was performed by the others that were with him because they were in a group. The results showed that, although individuals had a sense of right and wrong, when placed in a group, they could do some pretty horrible things, thus throwing their moral compass out the window. The results were published in 1963. This is probably one of the most famous psychological experiments in history, and helps to not only understand the mentality of the Nazis during WWII, but also that atrocious acts could be committed by ANYONE, given the right set of circumstances.
I heard this story on NPR yesterday. There's a link to the broadcast on this page, as well as an article. It goes to show how most people will go against their own principles under social pressure. Only 20% of contestants refused to shock the fictitious contestant. The audience didn't know it was fictitious, and was urging the players to shock the fictitious contestants.
It's a chilling commentary on human nature, even in a 'civilized' nation in 'enlightened' Western Europe. Listen to the broadcast, it's fascinating.
Fake TV Game Show 'Tortures' Man, Shocks France : NPR
the French were not only shocked by the actions of their own citizens on this game show, but upon hearing that the story went out to the world, via NPR, France surrendered. :mrgreen:
It was a joke. We, as a people, enjoying making fun of the French.I don't see why this meme even exists. France has been fighting wars far longer than we have, and has won most of them. With a great deal of WW1 and WW2 being fought on their territory, they took a lot of the beating, second perhaps only to WW2 Russia. Even after being totally occupied and controlled, the resistance provided crucial disruption and intelligence effort. Also, does anybody remember that Napoleon guy? You know, the one who practically took over the world and pretty much only mother nature could beat?
List of wars involving France - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"France surrenders hurrr" is something people with no knowledge of history say.
It was a joke. We, as a people, enjoying making fun of the French.
That we do, and the French are also cool with it. In fact, a few years ago President Mitterand did a commercial, in which he held up a piece of cheese, and exclaimed "I would surrender for just one bite of this".*
* - No he didn't. I just made it up because I love to bash the French. LOL.
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