In Psychology class, I remember learning about an experiment on the extent to which people could be instructed to push a button that would administer a shock to a person while they watched behind a two way mirror. The "victim" was an actor but would pretend to be shocked every time the person pushed the button, theyd scream in pain. A man in a white lab coat (position of authority) would convince each subject (button pusher) that the study was the person being shocked and then the importance of continuing the "treatment" was stressed over and over again. The button pusher was led to believe that each time they pushed the button, a higher voltage was being delivered.
Many people got to the highest voltage so long as the Lab Coat Man stayed there to encourage the button pusher.
But they changed some of the variables and found that people found it easier to deliver the shock if they didn't have to physically push the button themselves. Some how the act of being directly and physically involved made it easier to cope with. Kinda like the trolley car thought experiment.
If you were on an out-of-control trolley car headed for a split between two paths, the left path had 5 workers on the track and the right path had only 1 worker. You could pull a lever and decide which path the car would plow through...
Most people say it would be better to save the life of 5 and kill 1.
But, when faced with the same scenario with only one difference...
You are on a bridge overhead, you're watching the trolly go straight toward a group of 5.
...and you notice a fat man standing to your left and it's clear that if you pushed him off the bridge, he'd fall onto the track in front of the trolly, and all 5 people would be saved...would you do it?
Most of the people who said they'd pull the lever to kill one and save the 5 immediately found this new proposition to be immoral. But, the only thing that changed was their level of physical involvement. The outcome was still 1 dead and 5 alive, but the act of physically pushing the person over was harder to swallow...
Many people got to the highest voltage so long as the Lab Coat Man stayed there to encourage the button pusher.
But they changed some of the variables and found that people found it easier to deliver the shock if they didn't have to physically push the button themselves. Some how the act of being directly and physically involved made it easier to cope with. Kinda like the trolley car thought experiment.
If you were on an out-of-control trolley car headed for a split between two paths, the left path had 5 workers on the track and the right path had only 1 worker. You could pull a lever and decide which path the car would plow through...
Most people say it would be better to save the life of 5 and kill 1.
But, when faced with the same scenario with only one difference...
You are on a bridge overhead, you're watching the trolly go straight toward a group of 5.
...and you notice a fat man standing to your left and it's clear that if you pushed him off the bridge, he'd fall onto the track in front of the trolly, and all 5 people would be saved...would you do it?
Most of the people who said they'd pull the lever to kill one and save the 5 immediately found this new proposition to be immoral. But, the only thing that changed was their level of physical involvement. The outcome was still 1 dead and 5 alive, but the act of physically pushing the person over was harder to swallow...
