A novel experimental approach to study disobedience to authority

AbstractFifty years after the experiments of Stanley Milgram, the main objective of the present paper is to offer a paradigm that complies with up-to-date ethical standards and that can be adapted to various scientific disciplines, ranging from sociology and (social) psychology to neuroscience. Inspired by subsequent versions of Milgram-like paradigms and by combining the strengths of each, this paper presents a novel experimental approach to the study of (dis)obedience to authority. Volunteers are recruited in pairs and take turns to be ‘agents’ or ‘victims’, making the procedure fully reciprocal. For each trial, the agents receive an order from the experimenter to send a real, mildly painful electric shock to the ‘victim’, thus placing participants in an ecological set-up and avoiding the use of cover stories. Depending on the experimental condition, ‘agents’ receive, or do not receive, a monetary gain and are given, or are not given, an aim to obey the experimenter’s orders. Disobedience here refers to the number of times ‘agents’ refused to deliver the real shock to the ‘victim’. As the paradigm is designed to fit with brain imaging methods, I hope to bring new insights and perspectives in this area of research.

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Review of Psychodynamics: The Science of Unknown Forces, Cognitive Processes, The Concept of Human Development, and Social Psychology: An Experimental Approach.

Contemporary Psychology ◽

10.1037/007760 ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 232-232

Author(s):

MELVIN MARX

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Human Development ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Experimental Approach

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Informed consent: Towards improved lay-friendliness of patient information sheets

Communication & Medicine ◽

10.1558/cam.v10i3.201 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 201-211

Author(s):

Morten Pilegaard ◽

Hanne Berg Ravn

Keyword(s):

Informed Consent ◽

Information Structure ◽

Language Use ◽

Ethical Standards ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Explorative Study ◽

Microsoft Word ◽

Text Production ◽

Linguistic Intervention ◽

Set Up

Regional research ethics committee (REC) members have voiced a need for the linguistic improvement of informed consent documents to ensure duly informed consent and to ease committee deliberation. We have little knowledge of what elements of language use hamper comprehension, or of the extent of medical researchers’ appreciation of this problem and their willingness to accept intervention. This qualitative, explorative study proposes an intervention design and tests its feasibility and acceptability. Semi-structured interviews with potential REC applicants informed a linguistic intervention benchmarked against existing guidelines, mandated locally and nationally, and then evaluated quantitatively in a semi-controlled set-up and qualitatively via questionnaires. Potential applicants professed the psychological acceptability of linguistic intervention. The intervention comprised a downloadable Microsoft Word template outlining information structure, a detailed guideline offering advice for each move and self-selected linguistic screening. It was used by 14 applicants and had a measurable effect on REC deliberation time and approval rates. The intervention instruments overall made it easier for applicants to produce informed consent documents meeting prescribed ethical standards concerning lay-friendliness. In conclusion, it was found that linguistic intervention is relevant, feasible and psychologically acceptable to REC applicants; it aids their text production process and seems to enhance the lay-friendliness of these texts.

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Detection capability of Migdal effect for argon and xenon nuclei with position sensitive gaseous detectors

Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics ◽

10.1093/ptep/ptaa162 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kiseki D Nakamura ◽

Kentaro Miuchi ◽

Shingo Kazama ◽

Yutaro Shoji ◽

Masahiro Ibe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gamma Rays ◽

Experimental Approach ◽

Isotope Separation ◽

Mass Region ◽

Background Rate ◽

Argon Gas ◽

Low Mass ◽

Position Sensitive ◽

Set Up ◽

Direct Dark Matter

Abstract Migdal effect is attracting interests because of the potential to enhance the sensitivities of direct dark matter searches to the low mass region. In spite of its great importance, the Migdal effect has not been experimentally observed yet. A realistic experimental approach towards the first observation of the Migdal effect in the neutron scattering was studied with Monte Carlo simulations. In this study, potential background rate was studied together with the event rate of the Migdal effect by a neutron source. It was found that a table-top sized ~ (30cm)3 position-sensitive gaseous detector filled with argon or xenon target gas can detect characteristic signatures of the Migdal effect with sufficient rates (O(102 ~ 103) events/day). A simulation result of a simple experimental set-up showed two significant background sources, namely the intrinsic neutrons and the neutron induced gamma-rays. It is found that the intrinsic neutron background rate for the argon gas is acceptable level and some future study for the reduction of the gamma-rays from the laboratory would make the observation of the Migdal effect possible. The background for the xenon gas, on the other hand, is found to be much more serious than for the argon gas. Future works on the isotope separation as well as the reduction of the gamma-rays from the detector and laboratory will be needed before the Migdal effect observation for xenon gas case.

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Dimensioning a Call Center: Simulation or Queue Theory?

Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management ◽

10.12660/joscmv2n2p34-46 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 34 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marco Aurélio Carino Bouzada

Keyword(s):

Analytical Method ◽

Analytical Methods ◽

Call Center ◽

Experimental Approach ◽

Call Centers ◽

Experimental Methods ◽

New Approach ◽

Alternative Methodology ◽

Queue Theory ◽

Set Up

The objective of this paper is to establish a dichotomy - opposing analytical methods (such as Queue Theory) to experimental methods (such as Simulation) and discussing their adequateness to complex operations - set up in the matter of dimensioning the handling capacity of a large brazilian call centers company. The literature related to the application of such methods at call centers is reviewed, and the way the question is treated nowadays by the company is described. Then an experimental approach is suggested to be implemented as an alternative methodology to deal with the issue, instead of the analytical method in use. The results obtained are used to justify the adequacy of the experimental approach to the modern call centers operation, as long as it is possible to have the model closer to reality. The main implication points to a better understanding of the operation achieved with the new approach

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Centrality of the Concept of Representation in Sociotherapy

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica ◽

10.1515/ausp-2016-0010 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 139-153

Author(s):

Stefano Scarcella Prandstraller

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Limited Range ◽

Social Origin ◽

Rudolf Steiner ◽

Successful Intervention ◽

Relevant Concept ◽

Complete Knowledge ◽

Scientific Disciplines ◽

Peculiar Form ◽

Psychological Organization

Abstract “Representation” is a relevant concept in many scientific disciplines, from linguistics to social psychology, but in sociotherapy, a branch of sociology dedicated to the intervention on individuals in situations of addiction or hardship of social origin, it becomes absolutely central. There are different approaches to sociotherapy, from the original one of Rudolf Steiner (1924), to those of Marshal Edelson (1970) and John Stuart Whiteley (1986), but it is the more recent one of Leonardo Benvenuti (2002) to fully integrate the concepts of “culture,” “discourse” and “representation.” This author, underlining the limited range of psychoanalysis, focuses his idea of therapy both on “culture,” interpreted as identification of the peculiar form of psychological organization of the patient as precondition to any intervention, and on “discourse” as method of interaction based on a dialogue supported by the phenomenological tool of “empathy.” The whole dialogue between the therapist and the patient is aimed to reach a complete knowledge of the system of “representations” of the latter. Benvenuti defines a “representation” as the combination of a cognitive element, the “image,” and an affective element, the “affective investment.” He looks for the roots of hardship or addiction in one or more “representations” of the patient, and this is the reason why they always must be unveiled and investigated. Only the successful intervention of the therapist on these representations and their correction in a desirable way may ensure the patient the acquisition of the needed level of autonomy and therefore the success of therapy.

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Ethics and E-Marketing

Human Rights and Ethics ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-6433-3.ch103 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 1873-1885

Author(s):

Jim Codling

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Cultural Norms ◽

Ethical Standards ◽

Starting Point ◽

Common Practices ◽

Cultural Standards ◽

Set Up ◽

Use Of Internet

The use of electronics has made old standards obsolete or at least “Passé.” Therefore, the question of ethics in the use of electronics has not been addressed very well. Common practices are forgotten as well as privacy and separation of work and down time. What this chapter entertains is to set up standards by which the entrepreneur can make best use of e-marketing, use of Internet, e-mails, and other electronic processes that can be used for commerce, while being sensitive to the standards that exist in differing societies and cultures. A starting point must be in distinguishing the needs and cultural standards between developed and developing countries. Another consideration must be the cultural norms of people who live in different places to include religions and moral/ethical standards.

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