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Andrew Wiles were born in a family of academicians in 1953. His father was a professor of divinity working in Oxford University. The background of the mathematician led to the development of more interest in the studies. He was an excellent student in all the subjects. However, he developed more interests in mathematics from a tender age (Aczel, 1-52). To Andrew Wiles, mathematics was more than a subject or a requirement for the success in the classwork. To him, mathematics was more of a hobby (Apostol, 36). He loved the challenges that came with the subject.
He could complete all his homework to formulate new mathematical problems that he later solved. Being able to work on the mathematical issues was a source of satisfaction for the young mathematician. Being able to work on the problems also developed the research interest in him whereby it later formed the foundation of the research work and interests. He started his research on the mathematic problems by renting out books in the neighboring library. He used the books to find new problems. Most often, he used to look for the problems that were above his grade level. His preparedness in the mathematics field led to constantly excelling. The continued success of the young student cemented the interest and love of the student in the subject.
Early education
Wiles rented out books on Fermat theorem from the library more often than other books. The dedication to the understanding of the theorem led to the understanding of the concepts that formed the foundation of the assertion. The Fermat theorem was representative of a mathematics problem that had never been solved for over 300 years (Apostol, 36). The young student focused on how to improve on the theorem. He was only ten years when he started evaluating the issue. However, he was confident enough to provide his insights on the solution to the problem. He owned up the problem and sought out ways of solving it in the most optimal manner. He focused on the creation of the solution to the problem regardless of the tender age and the limited level of mathematical knowledge that he had acquired in the short time he had been in the school. He supposed that the solution to the problem would be arrived at in an easy way.
However, the research and all the efforts that he had invested in the solution of the problem were indicative that the opposite was true regarding the issue. He acknowledged that the problem needed more learning and understanding. Therefore, he understood that he needed to find new sources of knowledge that would enable him find the optimal solution to the problem actual solution to the problem need more understanding of other mathematics concepts that he did not have at the age (Apostol, 36).
His pursuit of the solution and the commitment to come up with the right solution to the issue later led to the acknowledgement of the need for other concepts of mathematics it also led to the understanding that the mathematics concepts were interconnected. Therefore, mathematical thinking had to assume a holistic approach (Aczel, 24-45). More importantly, it sowed the initial seeds of desire to pursue mathematics in the high levels of learning. The idea led to the creation of a lifetime commitment to the understanding of mathematics in order to provide solutions to similar issues.
In the formal education system, he was a constant performer in the common subjects required at his level of learning. He performed at an above average level in the rest of the subjects. In mathematics, he performed at consistently excellent level (Aczel, 142). His commitment to the discipline and the ability to challenge himself to do better in something that had defeated many mathematicians is indicative of the level of self-efficacy that young Wiles displayed. His dedication to excellence in mathematics was the main reason for his continued success in the class work relating to the same subject (Kleiner, 19-37).
Being able to live on the university campus also contributed to his budding of interest in the subject since he could meet with bright people who were willing to help him in his quest for better understanding of the theorem ('Invitation To The Mathematics Of Fermat-Wiles', 1). The staff at the local library also helped in the expansion of more understanding on the same issue. Their accommodating approach to the young researcher and willingness to assist him in finding what he needed to read in order to excel in mathematics and other disciplines helped in the growth of a more adept understanding of the subject matter. Their assistance in the initial research stages helped in the location and understanding of literature on the subject matter. They also helped in the development of the researching techniques (Apostol, 36).
Therefore, the environment in which he spent his formative years contributed to the budding of interest in mathematics and research. Support from his family was also a vital contributor to the mathematical interest. His father, who was a humanity professor, did not fault the decision of his son to pursue mathematics (Singh, 56). He did not attempt to push him towards his discipline. On the contrary, he tried to understand the interest of his son even when it was difficult to decipher what he was talking about. His moral support and encouragement contributed to the outcome of the young mathematician (Apostol, 36).
Later education
Andrew Wiles attended King's College School in Cambridge during his childhood. He proceeded to Merton College for his Bachelor’s Degree majoring in his favorite subject of mathematics. He received his PhD. in the same area of study in 1980. He conducted his postgraduate research at Clare College.
Career
Andre received an offer from Princeton University for an associate professorship. He took the position from 1981 to 1985 when Guggenheim appointed hams as a fellow. He worked in Paris for Guggenheim. He proceeded to Oxford in 1988 to work as a research professor in 1988 to 1990. He went back to Princeton as a tutor until 2011 after which he returned to Oxford.
Fermat last theorem
Andrew focused on his studies in line with his commitment to finding new knowledge that would help him solve the problem. At the age of 33, he felt that he had attained the needed knowledge to start working on the theorem once again ('Invitation To The Mathematics Of Fermat-Wiles', 1). He embarked on the research once again from 1986 to 1993. He found a solution to the problem and presented the proof to the public in the same year he had completed working on the theorem.
However, his first proof had an issue that made it inadmissible to the public. Working on the theorem had proved to be a journey marked with setbacks. He worked hard on the theorem to find the source of the problem. He reworked on the theory in the months after the issue in the proof was identified. He worked on the creation of a more in-depth understanding of the issue at hand. He later arrived at the solution to the error in his initial proof in 1994. His commitment to the proof rectification and the solution to the theorem led to the final success. Various inquests into the theorem indicated that the most famous mathematicians were not capable of finding any fault in the proof of the theorem.
Finally, his commitment to the theorem paid off since after publication of the proof; he was now famous. He had completed an inquest that he set out to do in his formative years, and the inquest had finally paid off. His contributions had led to the discovery of the solution to a problem that defeated even the brightest mathematicians in the history for three hundred years. His contributions to the finding of the proof of the theorem are important in the Mathematical discipline. He increased the value of the study of the annals of mathematics by finding the proof of the Fermat theorem.
Awards and distinctions
There are numerous inquests in the process that he used in coming up with the proof of the theorem. Most of the interviewers ask him about his motivations and challenges in finding the proof. They also ask about the source of the error in the initial proof. He has a permanent membership in the prestigious United States National Academy of Sciences. He also has numerous recognition and awards such as the Schlock Award of 1995, King Faisal Award of 1998, Pythagoras Award of 2004 and Shaw Award of 2005.
Work cited
Aczel, Amir D. Fermat's Last Theorem. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1996. Print.
Apostol, Tom M. 'Ode To Andrew Wiles, Kbe'. The Mathematical Intelligencer 22.4 (2000): 36-36. Web.
'Invitation To The Mathematics Of Fermat-Wiles'. Choice Reviews Online 39.11 (2002): 39-6474-39-6474. Web.
Kleiner, Israel. 'From Fermat To Wiles: Fermat's Last Theorem Becomes A Theorem'. Elem. Math. 55.1 (2000): 19-37. Web.
Singh, Simon. Fermat's Enigma. New York: Walker, 1997. Print.
Table of Contents and outline
George Boole’s early years
Career development
Boole’s contribution and achievements
Boole’s marriage and personal life
George Boole’s influencers
Death
Boole’s Legacy
References
George Boole’s early years
George Boole, born on November 2, 1815, played a crucial role in facilitating the advanced computer and digital systems architecture. He was an English mathematician. He attended a National Society primary school where he later joined a school for commercial subjects. Apparently, the school of commercial subject marked the end of his formal education. However, similar to the father, he had a great skill of self-study. It was during that period, precisely at the age of 16 years, when he became an assistant teacher of an elementary school at Lincoln. After working in the school, he gained enough experienced that pushed him to opening up his own school four years later where he taught mathematics (Lambert 25).
Despite the father’s great study-skills, while he was working as a cobbler, he had strong passion and dedication to learning science and technology. He loved participating in Lincoln Mechanics’ Institution that promoted discussion and lectures related to science and technology (Gowers 44). Apparently, the role played by George’s father in the library as the curator supported Boole’s access to books. It was through the supportive family that Boole got the opportunity of advancing his knowledge of mathematics. Due to his growing interest in Mathematics, he had a discontentment with textbooks and forcibly began reading Laplace for mathematics ideas. His first work written from ideas collected was on variation calculus (Stanoyevitch 47).
Career development
After handing on his first work to Cambridge Mathematical Journal, the publisher (Duncan Gregory) got a positive impression of the ideas where he published them on the journal. Boole later following the impressive research work one by George, the publisher recommended him at Cambridge University. However, he declined the offer as he used teaching at his school as the sole source of financial support for his family (Khatri 35).
Boole’s consideration of the recommendation request at Cambridge University contributed to his decision of joining the university and immediately began studying algebra. In 1849, he became a mathematics professor at Queens College. Later, due to his impressive work, he became the dean of Science in the college (Lambert 64).
Boole’s contribution and achievements
By 1839, George produced his own mathematical work. His work inspired other scientists such as Albert Einstein. His major achievement was on 1841 when he developed the invariant theory. The invariant theory contributed to the study of intrinsic properties of polynomials in mathematics. In his theory, he postulate study mechanism of factors such as factorability, multiplicities of roots and as well geometrical congruentation of roots (Gowers 28).
Attributed to his great interests in mathematical operations, in 1844, he developed a pioneering paper on “Calculus of Operators.” The paper established his reputation among mathematicians. It was one of the major mathematics works during that period as it won the Royal Society’s gold medal (Lambert 22).
Additionally, as one of the most significant achievement in the computer science field, in 1847, he developed an interrelationship between logical problems and algebra. He applied algebra while solving logical problems (Khatri 66). It was in his work of “The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (Stanoyevitch 58). In his argument, he expanded knowledge by Leibniz’ the correlation between logic and math. Boole highlighted that logic is a mathematical discipline. It is in contrast with an earlier postulation that placed it under philosophy. Logic and algebra relationships contributed to Boolean algebra, which is the founding block for digital system design and computer architecture. The algebra is essential in modern systems as it calculates real values from a series of logically connected statements. Boolean algebra uses governing laws called Boolean laws. Boole developed the idea of true and false logical statements based on circuit functions (Gowers 36).
Boole’s marriage and personal life
He married Mary Everest in 1855 who was the daughter to George Everest. His study-skill motivation prevailed in their family where he encouraged his wife to continue studying at a local university. They successfully had five daughters together. They included; Mary Boole, Margaret Boole, Alice Boole, Lucy Boole and Ethel Boole s (Stanković 40).
George Boole’s influencers
His success in science and technology innovations had a basis on works from other scientist and family members. The major role player was his father who facilitated his access to library materials. More so, his great interests studying attributes to the exposure developed by the father. Another important individual was Leibniz’ who had a belief on existence of a relationship between logic and mathematics. He influenced Boole’s work on “Mathematical Analysis of Logic.” The idea of Boolean algebra was an expansion of Leibniz’s idea. Lagrange, on the other hand, through his great work of analytical mechanics versified Boole’s knowledge on mechanics (Stanoyevitch 22). Concepts learnt from Lagrange’s work were some of the building basics of George great works. Related to Lagrange was Laplace and his celestial mechanics works. His analysis utilized calculus while explaining star motions. Boole saw the knowledge vital in his understanding of calculus and sure, it was as it won him a gold award. Lastly, Gregory played vital roles in publishing his works in the Cambridge journal.
Death
Boole succumbed to pneumonia contracted after wearing wet clothes during a lecture. His death was on December 8, 1864 Ireland (Khatri 90). His funeral, held in the Church of Ireland, attracted many people from the community as they commemorated the great work by the scientist. In memory of Boole, Great Hall of University College made memorial window arts. These arts majorly commemorates the logical mathematics.
Boole’s Legacy
Boole’s work is a major building and contributor towards the modern technology advancements. Modern electronics continue utilizing his symbolic mathematical logics. Electrical circuits used utilize his Boolean algebra concept. The first application of the Boolean algebra was on 1930’s when Shannon developed switching circuits (Stanković 33). Nowadays, computers have their operations based on the Boolean algebra. His achievement is as well a major trigger towards the development of internet. Often internet searches such as Google use Boolean operators while differentiating search terms. Similarly, continued digitization of systems uses his concepts of logical mathematics. An example is its application in the design of electromagnetic relay systems used in the telephony industry.
Reference
Stanković, Radomir S, and Jaakko Astola. From Boolean Logic to Switching Circuits and Automata: Towards Modern Information Technology. Berlin: Springer, 2011. Internet resource.
Khatri, Sunil P, and Kanupriya Gulati. Advanced Techniques in Logic Synthesis, Optimizations and Applications. New York: Springer, 2011. Internet resource.
Stanoyevitch, Alexander. Discrete Structures with Contemporary Applications. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2011. Print.
Lambert, Kevin. "Victorian Stained Glass As Memorial: An Image of George Boole." Visions of the Industrial Age, 1830 - 1914 / Ed. by Minsoo Kang and Amy Woodson-Boulton. (2008): 205-226. Print.
Gowers, Timothy, June Barrow-Green, and Imre Leader. The Princeton Companion to Mathematics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Internet resource.
Abstract
Stanley Milgram was born in New York. Although he initially studied Political Science, he shifted to psychology and graduated with a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Harvard UNiversity despite an earlier rejection. He became a psychologist at Yale University where he conducted experiments that focused on contentious issues between obedience to authority and individual conscience. He looked into justifications given by those accused of geneocide acts of World War 11. He wanted to find out whether Germans had been obedient to authority figures as it had been a reason given for Nazi Killings that happened in World War 11. Milgram used male participants in his lab experiment to find out the extent into which people would be willing to obey an instruction even if it concerned causing harm to another individual. He concluded that ordinary people were likely to follow instructions given by an authoritative figure to the extent that they could kill a fellow innocent person. Individuals were also likely to follow orders from individuals if they recognized their authority to be morally right or legal based. Milgram’s experiment was revolutionary as it had been carried out when there had been less scientific studies on how people responded to authority figures. His experiment opened up doors for psychologists as a starting point to carry out their own research on authority and social roles.
Dr. Stanley Milgram Autobiography
Milgram Stanley was born in the year 1933 in New York. He studied in James Monroe high school where he graduated in 1950. He then joined Queens College where he did his degree studies and graduated with an undergraduate degree in psychology. Stanley is widely thought of to have loved the way of life in the city, and this perhaps is what led him to write the article "the experience of city living" in 1970. Milgram's love for education pushed him to pursue further studies at the Harvard University where he got his Ph.D. degree in urban psychology. Perhaps interestingly, his dissertation for his Ph.D. was concerned with conformity, a topic that was later to throw him into the limelight for the theory of obedience. Milgram majored in political science while at Queens College. He applied to undertake his Ph.D. studies at Harvard university's department of social relations (Maslach, 2000).
However, the university turned down his application because he didn't have any prior academic background in psychology. Despite this setback, Milgram reapplied and got accepted in 1954 with the rider that he would be a special student. To cover his incompetence in the psychology discipline, he undertook six undergraduate courses in several New York colleges. Milgram performed better than most regular students in his 1st year at Harvard so much so that the university changed his status the following year to the regular student (Brannigan, 2013).
Even during his schooling days, Milgram was noted to be anti-authority, he often turned own guidance by lecturers on the topics to study, but he steadfastly chose his topics. He particularly loved themes and surveys that concerned with the lives of the ordinary people. In one particular case, he was queried by his mother in law why New Yorkers didn't offer their seats to the elderly anymore, and Milgram responded that new Yorkers were not especial cold and hard-hearted as many would have wanted to believe but that they were simply "inhibited from engaging each other." To confirm this hypothesis, he sent his students out to the streets, and sure enough, that was the conclusion most of them came up with (Brannigan, 2013).
At Harvard Milgram developed a strong friendship with Gordon Allport, head of the department for social relations graduate programs. A prominent psychologist of the last century, Allport became the most significant individual in Milgram's university life. Their correspondence set the foundation for their student – mentor relationship. Allport constantly encouraged Milgram and inwardly admired his drive even when faced with obstacles. The relationship between mentor and student grew so intense that both knew how to push the other without risking resistance. Because of this stellar relationship, it was only natural that Milgram chose Allport as his chairman when he was writing his dissertation for Ph.D. (Brannigan, Nicholson, & Cherry, 2015).
Milgram's dissertation entailed a cross-cultural assessment of conformity carried out France and Norway in the years 1957 to 1959. He employed a variation of a procedure invented by Solomon Asch – a social psychologist. In 1955 Solomon Asch went to Harvard (visiting lecturer), whereby Milgram was selected to assist him with his research and teaching work. Milgram developed an intimate understanding of the conformity experiments that Asch was researching on. In the experiments, a participant, among seven fellow participants, were asked to show which line among three lines had the same length to another fourth line. In the experiment, six participants were asked to choose a shorter line in the trials deliberately. Asch discovered that a gullible subject succumbed to the inclination of the fake majority approximately "one-third of the time."
In 1974, Milgram wrote the book "Obedience to Authority" for which he received a Psychology Award from the American Association for the advancement of sciences (AAAS). This book propelled Milgram to international fame and subsequently was translated into 7 languages. His works on obedience continue to elicit different reactions from psychologists, and for this reason, the next section of this article examines in detail what Milgram's theory on obedience was all about and why it received so much publicity to the effect that he was refused tenure.
Obedience Theory
It's contradictory that virtues such as discipline, loyalty, and self-sacrifice which are valued so much by people are the same properties that originate destructive organizational mechanisms of conflict and attach men to vindictive systems of power. The outcome of the Jewish Holocaust plus the incidents that led to World War II stunned the world just as much as did the events in Germany and the annexed lands that emerged from the Eichmann Trials. Eichmann was a top Nazi party official and was being tried in Jerusalem for crimes against humanity and war crimes. what Milgram questioned was, "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?" (Milgram, 1974).
The Experiment
Milgram altered Asch's technique, using sound instead of visual stimuli. In each experiment, the participants were required to show which tone was longer out several tones. Also, Milgram applied a fabricated majority to generate peer pressure, before saying the answer the gullible subject listened to tape-recorded responses from the other five participants – who were made to look like they were in the room but in the actual sense were not. In the dissertation, he expounded on the benefits of this method, "The group is always willing to perform in the laboratory at the experimenter's convenience, and personalities on tape demand no replay royalties." (McLeod, 2007)
Overall, Milgram realized that the Norwegians were more conforming as compared to the French. From 1959 to 1960, he collaborated with Asch on a book that dealt with conformity. Milgram wrote his dissertation mostly during his free time. Similarly, their relationship is regarded in some quarters as being very significant in Milgram's scientific life.
In 1960, Milgram got his Ph.D. and started teaching at Yale in the psychology department. He undertook out studies focusing on obedience using most of his students.in 1961, with a grant from the National Science Foundation, Milgram embarked on a study that sought to establish the "power of social influence" with more substantial objects than "simple line judgments." (Tarnow, 2005)
The objective of Milgram's experiment focused on answering the many issues that arose after the Jewish Holocaust of 1941.Milgram answered this query by carrying out studies on "obedience to authority." Typically, two people who went for the study were taken to a chamber where one was strapped into a chair so as to stop him from moving and then an electrode was attached to his arm. After that, the other party - called the "teacher" - was the next room where instructions were issued to him to "read a list of two-word pairs" and then instruct the "learner"(the person strapped into a chair) also to read back what he had read. If the "learner" got the right answer, the "teacher" moved to the next word. However, If the "learner" got the incorrect answer, the "teacher" was instructed to shock the chair and stun the "learner." The starting voltage was set at 15 volts but was gradually increased by 15 volts until the voltage reached 450 volts (Maslach, 2000). The "teacher" automatically was required to raise the shock whenever the "learner" missed a word from the list.Although the "teachers" were made to think that they indeed were directing shockwaves to the "learners," in actual sense, the "learners" were, in fact, Confederates and were not actually harmed (Brannigan, 2013).
The notion that only the heartless people on the fringe of society could permit such cruelty was repudiated. Findings showed that, "two-thirds of this studies' participants fall into the category of obedient' subjects, and that they represent ordinary people drawn from the working, managerial, and professional classes." In the end, 65% of the "teachers" punished the "learners" to the highest voltage i.e. 450 volts. (Milgram, 1974). Accordingly, Milgram opined that "every human has the dual capacity to function as an individual exercising his or her moral judgement and the capacity to make their moral decisions based on their personal character." however, the pertinent question was what happened to the average individual who's submissive to authority even when the authority overrode their moral judgement?
Discussion
Milgram's research led to profound reviews in most of the fundamental assumptions on human nature. Actually, towards the latter of 1963, the results of Milgram's research had started eliciting interest from many academic quarters around the world. He observed that any average, seemingly normal persons could willingly inflict "very painful and perhaps even harmful electric shocks on innocent victims." The subjects considered that they "were part of an experiment supposedly dealing with the relationship between punishment and learning." Another researcher—who didn't employ coercive powers barring a severe aura of systematic and vacant-eyed efficacy —instructed the subjects to shock a learner any time the learner committed an error in a task involving word-matching. Each successive mistake made the subjects to amplify the strength of the shocks (Maslach, 2000).
Milgram's work was acknowledged by many as ‘the most important psychological research' accomplished in his era. Whereas Hannah Arendt conjectured philosophically that the classes of Holocaust architects like Eichmann were "unremarkable non-entities," Milgram illustrated with an experiment how easy it was for citizens of New Haven to be converted into "brutal Nazis" with very little coercion. Milgram's work provoked inquiries on the moral treatment of people in a manner that aided in shaping future policies to help treat the volunteers of experimental studies. This experiment informed funding organizations on the need for risk evaluation for those intentionally misled in experiments based on deception (Brannigan, Nicholson, & Cherry, 2015).
Milgram supported the suggestion that grave uncertainties of human morality should be scrutinized following these innovative processes that proved so successful in natural sciences. Also, he promoted the doctrine of social psychology which implied that ‘the situation' was the most critical determinant of human behavior. The book titled "Obedience to Authority" was endorsed by the popular press, leading to an outburst in the media. His accurate depiction of "the banality of evil" motivated an artistic outburst of plays, and films, and is still a relevant reference point in the studies of the Holocaust history in our society today (Brannigan, 2013).
Milgram was concerned about the conditions that occasioned the demonstration of profound anti-Semitic sentiments in Germany throughout World War II. Some researchers believe that compulsive conformity was ingrained in the perpetrators. For his doctoral studies, he examined national variances in defiance of group influence to follow judgments that people felt were inappropriate. He embraced the conventions of Asch. In truth, he discovered political dissimilarities in conformity between French and Norwegian participants, except nothing that clarified the German scenario. As a scholar, he desired to set a precedent by crafting conditions in which participants were obligated, not only to agree with something they knew was false but also to act in a seriously inappropriate manner (Tarnow, 2005).
Many students with post-secondary education in recent times will remember the experiment. A lab-coated researcher explained the necessity to examine the efficacy of punitive measures on the education system. The people who took part in these experiments were lied to from the very beginning. Subsequently, the instructor read the list of words, then, under the direction of the scientist, tested if the student had learned anything from the information offered to him [or her]. That was where the drama began. The "student" (apparently) had "a bad memory." The shocks increased in tandem with the mistakes. And s/he began to complain about gradually painful screams and moans. All this was relayed to the student via speakers.
The reaction model was predetermined, and fabricated to construct a more and more disagreeable predicament for the teacher: either walk or shock, defy or obey. Each experiment went on for 50 minutes and caused agitation in some participants that were unique from earlier psychological study. Milgram's question was to find out how long the "teacher" would continuously administer "painful shocks" before resisting the researcher's orders to continue (Brannigan, Nicholson, & Cherry, 2015).
The critical discovery was that close to 65 % of average people would mete out punishment levels that appeared to be deadly, even where the student was portrayed as someone with a heart disorder. Despite this profound degree of aggression, standard wisdom indicated that the tension related to the experiment ended as soon as the participants were ‘de-hoaxed.' In fact, all the courteousness that was hitherto absent was reestablished during the debrief, and the scientist and subject departed on amiable terms.
Milgram was a Jew, and this experiment wasn't exactly needed to corroborate that the exercise of genocide is one that could be researched and applied with utmost diligence—leading to horrendous cruelty. Nevertheless, it seemed unwise or permissive to worry with a discourse like "appalling cruelty." How long can humans be "appalled" before an "accident" becomes a habit? What's factual about the Holocaust is a big percentage of ordinary individuals will obey and undertake the orders they were given (Brannigan, Nicholson, & Cherry, 2015). If the perpetrators of the Holocaust were extraordinarily "industrious and inventive" in genocide cruelty, we cannot deceive ourselves the Germans were abnormal in their complicity. Such qualities exist in each of us. It is all about the side that history assigns us. The reality of what happened during the Holocaust is scary —it is recognizing that it could've happened to any of us, and understand that the "crime" is "beyond punishment, outrage, or intervention." (McLeod, 2007)
Many other incidences have been explained with the Milgram's experiment. For example, the My Lai massacre in which American soldiers killed 350 men, children, and women because they "were following orders from their superiors." It's imperative to mention that this incident was "the only documented incident" in the Vietnam war which the public was made aware of. There's a possibility it was not an isolated occurrence. Milgram contended that the factors that could explain the incident at My Lai include the fact that military drilling sets soldiers apart from all the others to stop competition with the powers that be.
The aim of training is to eradicate the views of characters and prioritize the superiority of the group. During the exercises, the soldiers devote much time to discipline. Following and obeying orders is the foundation for the activities of soldiers. Cultural divergences set the sides (North Vietnam and US) apart, much as race was employed to detach the soldiers from the things they did during the war. The soldiers who perpetrate the massacre "felt that they were just following orders and it was their duty to follow orders" from the "authority" figure (Brannigan, 2013).
Milgram noted recurrent arguments (as established in "Obedience to Authority") in these particular occurrences and others. Individuals who do a work/job as ordered by an authoritative figure are merely obeying the directives of that authoritative viewpoint, not the position of the moral code. The spirit of personal emotion and duty are noticeably separated. Responsibility alters in the thinking of the junior worker from herself [ or herself] to the influential figure. There's a well-defined reason behind the goals and actions of people in authority, and subsequently, the junior is relied on to assist in meeting these goals. Milgram remarked that "The outcomes, as felt and seen in the lab, are to this writer troubling. They advance the possibility that human nature, or the type of temperament shaped by the American society, can't be relied upon to shield the people from inhumane treatment and brutality at the command of malevolent power." (Tarnow, 2005)
There are people who have questioned the validity of Milgram's experiments. Milgram observed that his experiments had been re-done Italy, Australia, South Africa and Germany, Italy, which tended to suggest that the results were comprehensive. However, according to Perry, one of the critics of Milgram's experiments and theory, ‘the Australian study found significantly lower levels of obedience than Milgram's,' as did the Italian and Germany studies; the South African study was a student report based on 16 subjects."
Jerry Burger also replicated Milgram's experiment and submitted his results in the American Psychologist. His study was funded by ABC network as a TV show. It was intended to produce similar results. It wasn't structured to inspect the methodological theories mentioned by Perry. In another co-authored book, Burger opined that the main trend he analyzed was something more than obedience because the prompts that looked like direct orders were the ones that were ineffective in eliciting compliance. Also, his participants were informed that the student, just like themselves, could quit the experiment any time they wanted.
Perhaps the discipline of Social Psychology is abstract since it inhabits a cognitive area already occupied by common sense, "the judgment of ages," and intuition developed from the experience of life (Brannigan, 2013). It has purposed to interchange this type of "human knowledge" with something premised on rationality developed from observance of experimental methods. In Levine and Rodrigues' 100 Years of Experimental Social Psychology (1999), the authors came to these two inferences. First, they frequently noticed that the domain had not occasioned a substantial foundation of non-trivial, cumulative knowledge. Secondly, whatever was responsible for the formation of the nucleus of the subject didn't share significant accord among the contributors (Brannigan 2002).
Conclusion
Milgram's experiment on "Obedience to Authority" indeed added more girth and dimension to the field of psychology. That human character can be a function of how we as humans respond to authority is a clear indication of the vain and somewhat delicate balance that life has struck with our mental capabilities, free will, and capacity to control issues that threaten to push us into breaking the moral code.
Reference
Brannigan, A. (2013). Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiments: A Report Card 50 Years Later. Springer Science+Business Media, 50, 623–628. doi:10.1007/s12115-013-9724-3
Brannigan, A., Nicholson, I., & Cherry, F. (2015). Unplugging the Milgram Machine. Theory and Psychology, 25, 551-563.
Maslach, C. (2000). Emperor of the Edge. Psychology Today, 33(5), 33.
McLeod, S. (2007). The Milgram Experiment. Simple Psychology, 5-8.
Tarnow, E. (2005). The Social Engineering solution to the murder to the Milgram Experiment. Social Psychology, 6(2), 1-8.
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