Episode 9: Very Entertaining and Packed with Knowledge!
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“I thought this podcast was extremely interesting. Not only was it packed full of information, but the information was presented in a way that people who are not well versed in psychology could understand. They each gave their opinions in very respectful ways, and played off of each other well. They kept the podcast interesting by cracking jokes and bouncing questions off of each other in a playful way. I also loved how they broke down the experiments in ways that put you inside of the experiments themselves.
I thought it was very interesting that they posed the question: What would you do if you were in the Milgram experiment? It is a great question. Most people look at this experiment and think that they would never have been able to shock people up to dangerous levels, or at all. But, if you put yourself in the subject’s shoes, it may not be that much of a cut and dry decision. For example, we listen to authority figures because our culture has brought us up thinking that we can trust them and should obey them. So, if we see a doctor, we immediately listen to their advice and do what they say. The same goes for teachers. So, if put in a situation where we have the choice to either listen to an authority figure or disobey them and rebel, it is more likely that most people will conform and follow directions, even if it is not morally acceptable.
I also thought it was great how in the podcast they broke down how the voltage shocks would feel in the Milgram experiment. He said that the 20 volt feels like a flick of your finger on someone. When you get into the 50-100 volt range, people start feeling immense pain. The average shock was 360 volts, which is extremely dangerous. At this point, the person who is pretending to receive the shock is screaming in pain. Some stopped at this point, but many went all the way up to the 450 volt shock. I thought it was also great how they mentioned that not only normal people thought no one would go up to the 450 voltage, but so did psychologists. This experiment threw everyone for a loop.
I also like how he talked about characteristics that each of us have that stay pretty consistent. I agree with this. I think some people tend to be kinder than others, meaner than others, more courageous than others and so on. So yes, I agree that there are good people and that there are bad people. But, as stated, some good people make bad decisions and some bad people make good decisions at times. However, their morals are very different from one another.
That being said, I think that the power of the situation also alters people’s judgments in certain situations. For example, Zimbardo took very normal, educated college students and put them in a very strange, made-up situation where some students were in authority and others were prisoners. The way that these “guards” acted was absolutely disgusting. They not only embarrassed these people by humiliating them on many levels, they treated them as though they weren’t even human. If that isn’t strange enough, some of these people were friends going into this experiment but completely turned on each other. This shows how powerful this situation was. It completely warped their senses of actual reality. Even Zimbardo, who was the “warden” of the prison began to take the experiment entirely too far. This is when an outsider (his girlfriend) had to snap him out of it and make him realize how entirely immoral the situation was.
These experiments show so clearly that the self and the situation can play such crucial roles in obedience, and the podcast did a great job in reporting this message. Although it may have felt that way, no one was holding a gun to these people’s heads and making them press the shocks or treat these prisoners like animals. I thought a great point that they made in the podcast was that after being debriefed, these people said that they knew that what they were doing was wrong and immoral, but were so caught up in the power of the situation that all of their morals were lost in the process.
In conclusion, the power of the situation can cause normal, good people to make very immoral decisions. It can cause people to conform to immoral situations and obey anyone in authority. This podcast did a fantastic job breaking down these intense psychological situations in ways that everyone can relate to and understand. It was a playful, yet very saturated with information.”
AMNestico via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
11/04/13
More reviews of Very Bad Wizards
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“Highly recommend for laypeople and experts alike”
Kayteeess via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
06/08/15
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“What would you get if Howard Stern taught philosophy? You'd get something similar to Very Bad Wizards.
When listening to the podcast, I feel like I'm eavesdropping on two guys in a bar who happen to be college professors and both make tons of sense. This podcast is good enough to be...”Read full review »
Philosophical layman via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
11/13/13
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“I absolutely love this podcast and look forward to the new episodes weekly! Dave and Tamler are hilarious (and intelligent). This is the only podcast that I consistently listen to and I have recommended it to many students and colleagues. Keep up the good work guys and I'll keep spreading the...”Read full review »
CharMangle via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
04/15/14
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