Assignment
CLRS: Group Dynamics: Authority, Obedience, Conformity or Why People are Sheep
Watch the following video clips, filling out the attached sheet as you go. It helps if you watch them in the order listed!
This fully completed packet regarding group dynamics and obedience to "authority" is due no later than our next class for credit. It is worth 2 CLRS credits. Have fun watching!
(I just checked these links. If the video links don't work for you, try a different browser or type in the keywords and search for video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwOeCF27PzM
Milgram experiment revisited
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb4Q20z0T1Q
Zimbardo Prison Experiments (BBC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh4MkcfJA
The Asch Experiments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDAbdMv14Is
The Elevator Experiment (Would You Fall for That?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HpJhvtsH00
The Diner Experiment (Would You Fall for That?)
Can you find any good social experiment/social conformity videos?
CLRS- When Good People Do Bad Things! (Group Dynamics)
1. You watched the Milgram experiment - revisited in a modern age. Do you think you would have continued when the man started yelling in the room next door? What do you think you would have done?
2. You watched the Zimbardo prison experiment, where students were randomly assigned to guard roles or prisoner roles. Within hours, the guards became overbearing and the prisoners became submissive. Name one role in your life (student, son, daughter, friend, employee) where you act in ways you wouldn't ordinarily choose to act. Describe how your personality would ordinarily act and how you actually act.
3. The Asch experiments show that sometimes people conform to the group, although for different reasons. In your answer #2 above, why do you structure your actions to that role (and not follow your true self's choice)?
4. How do you think the elevator experiment would go at the Fox School of Business and Management, if we went and tried it? Why do you think so?
5. What factors do you think made people we saw be obedient to authority when it came to getting - and eating - their lunch? (For example, some factors may be: gender, age, rural/urban environment, the country's culture, education level, how hungry they are).
6. Does the tendency to group conformity (the Asch paradigm, Milgram'sfindings, Zimbardo's observations, group think)encourage or discourage ethical behavior in business? Explain your reasoning.