From: julie@cucbs.chem.columbia.edu (Julie Wright)
Subject: Re: Truth/Psychiatrists and homosexuality.
Organization: Center for Biomolecular Simulation, Department of Chemistry,
	Columbia University
	<2B27E23B.18596@news.service.uci.edu> <7867@news.duke.edu>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 21:01:05 GMT

diamond@acpub.duke.edu (Elizabeth Abrams) writes:
>cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:

>>I would hazard a guess that most of you who have taken a basic psych
>>course have heard of that study done where a subject was asked to
>>deliver electric shocks to another person in collusion with the testers.
>>Even when the other person started screaming and banging on the walls,
>>the subject kept right on going giving them shocks, as long as the
>>doctor said that he would take full responsibility[...]

>Milgram and his group tried a variant of the experiment
>in which the subjects were asked to 'shock' a puppy[...]

>[...] We're more often criticized 
>because we use mostly white people between the ages of 18 and 22 who come 
>from middle to upper class backgrounds.... in other words, we all use college
>undergraduates.  However, Milgram did NOT make this mistake either; they
>tried another variant of the experiment away from the university, with
>no visible affiliation to the university, and used working-class members
>of the community as subjects.  Same results [...]

Damn!  You've exploded my armchair theory about that experiment.  Now
what will I talk about at cocktail parties?  

Around here (Columbia U. that is), the psych dept. people put up signs
at registration suggesting we register our names with them so they
can call us up and use us as paid subjects.  I know quite a few grad
students in my department (including me) who've done several experiments
over there.  In a not-very-bright move, I once signed up for an experiment
having to do with short-term memory which involved doing 10-15 hours 
of watching series of numbers/letters/words flash up on the computer 
screen, then listing them back again.  Now, the psych dept knows perfectly
well that experiments like this rapidly become mind-numbingly dull, so
they only pay you _part_ of the money as you go along, then pay you the
rest when they're done getting data (since it isn't much good to them if
you don't do enough hours).  I quickly got to loathe that experiment; it
was kind of fun the first few times, but eventually it felt like torture.
But I kept doing it because I needed the money really badly and dammit,
I'd EARNED it.  It was sort of adding insult to injury for me to realize 
I was so financially desperate I'd intellectually prostitute myself that 
way.  Well, I suppose that's what grad school is all about anyway.

It got me to thinking, and I figured that the fake shock experiment was
done with the usual grad student crowd, and the subjects were so desperate
for the money that they didn't dare walk out in the middle of the experiment
for fear of not being paid.  Puts a whole different spin on it, and doesn't
it make sense?  After all, we all know women will have a child just to 
soak a guy for his money; people will do all kinds of things for financial
motives. 

But now I find out that it's any old group of people.  Hmmm.  Oh well.

Off to sell my blood.  See you later.

---Julie
-- 
%  I wonder why it is that when I plan a route too carefully it      %
%  goes to pieces, whereas if I blunder along in blissful ignorance  %
%  aimed in a fancied direction I get through with no trouble.       %
%                      --- John Steinbeck (_Travels with Charley_)   %