Participant concerns for the Learner in a Virtual Reality replication of the Milgram obedience study.

ABSTRACT: In Milgram's seminal obedience studies, participants' behaviour has traditionally been explained as a demonstration of people's tendency to enter into an 'agentic state' when in the presence of an authority figure: they attend only to the demands of that authority and are insensitive to the plight of their victims. There have been many criticisms of this view, but most rely on either indirect or anecdotal evidence. In this study, participants (n = 40) are taken through a Virtual Reality simulation of the Milgram paradigm. Compared to control participants (n = 20) who are not taken through the simulation, those in the experimental conditions are found to attempt to help the Learner more by putting greater emphasis on the correct word over the incorrect words. We also manipulate the extent t

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez-Franco M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6312327 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature