By: Pixel

Pixel — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:51:33 +0000

I know now that what you’re saying is true and I probably knew then, too. The thing was that I’d always known intellectually that it happened, I just never realized that it could happen to me.
The emotional realization that you can sometimes fit into roles that you otherwise wouldn’t care much for is a shocking one albeit one I should have been able to predict.

By: Breakerslion

Breakerslion — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:38:33 +0000

I realize I speak from the benefit of hindsight, but it is from knowledge available to all who bother to question what they are seeing and do the research. With all the information available about human nature, it amazes me that people are ignorant enough, or misinformed enough to be surprised at findings like these. Our hierarchical society takes advantage of some very deep-seated triggers that instruct us to conform. When Quinn the Eskimo, or the 800-pound Alpha gorilla takes over a room, survival mechanisms kick in that put the rest of the crowd in follower mode. This reaction is exploited at every church service. There is an “eager to please” quality one finds in the willing or resigned Beta. When one takes on a subordinate role, like prison guard, one becomes a walking caricature of that person’s idea of an ideal prison guard. It’s something akin to the dis-inhibiting effect of a Halloween costume. The person is subsumed into the role due to an overwhelming survival instruction to perform to the satisfaction of the master. In this case, the designer of the experiment and acknowledged controller of the (artificial) environment.

Comments on: 2005: Spain legalizes same-sex marriage

By: Pixel

By: Breakerslion