[bwana devil]

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does anyone else think it's possible that any of us would do something comparably irresponsible in this situation? seriously. I don't think this has much to do with intelligence. I think it has to do with a subscription to authority.

there was a psychological study a while back on the effects of authority (I forget the name of it, maybe someone knows). some random people were told they were participating in a study on the effects of electricity on the human body. they were sat in front of a video monitor where they could see their human subject (an actor), and a control pad for administering different "shocks." they were told to administer higher and higher levels of shocks until the actor would be writhing on the floor in pain.

many of the participants continued to administer the shocks until the subject "passed out."

I'm not saying that you guys would force an underage girl to give you head. but it's easy to say "god, people are so dumb sometimes." and it annoys me when it's dismissed as being that simple. it's not. it's human nature. and blaming it on so-called stupidity isn't doing anything to help the problem.

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stanley milgram was the psychologist. i mentioned this study right at the start of this thread but no one seemed to pick up on it. everyone wants to call the people "stupid" which is easy to disassociate themselves w/ these people. IQ doesnt make people follow orders.

it is mindboggling to watch this and believe it happened but study the milgram experiment or the standord prison experiment which someone else mentioned and youll be amazed what people will do when confronted w/ authority.

one note, the actors in the study werent visible to the participants. the participants were listening to tape recordings of people scream so the stimuli was the exact same each and every time.