Shocking Boredom Study

Fifteen minutes may not seem like a terribly long time, but when left alone with just one’s thoughts for company, it is apparently unbearable, and many would sooner shock themselves than endure it. Nearly half of the participants in a recent study—18 of 42—elected to administer at least one mildly painful electric shock to themselves at some point during a 15-minute period in which they were left alone in an empty room and asked to sit at a table “entertaining themselves with their own thoughts.” Though some have criticized the study’s design, the researchers concluded that, on the whole, people prefer doing something, even something unpleasant, to doing nothing at all. More… Discuss

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• Faced with a 9-volt battery or 15 minutes alone with their thoughts, most will choose the painful electric shock, study finds

THE MILGRAM EXPERIMENT: OBEDIENCE VS. CONSCIENCE

While top Nazi official Adolf Eichmann stood trial for his crimes against humanity during the Holocaust, psychologist Stanley Milgram sought to understand the Nazis‘ behavior. He launched an experiment in 1961 that investigated a person’s willingness to follow orders that conflict with his or her conscience. His method, in which subjects were ordered to administer “electric shocks” of varying intensity to people in another room, were later deemed unethical. What were Milgram’s findings? More… Discuss