Discussion: Conformity and Authority Experiment

The following video describes a recreation of a classic psychological experiment. In this experiment, participants are told that they are taking on the role of "teachers" and providing "punishments" to "learners" who answer questions incorrectly. Let's take a look:

Play media comment.

Now it's time to make a prediction. There are twelve "teacher" participants in this study. How many of them will go to the end of the experiment and deliver what they think is a lethal punishment? What factors in the experiment might influence participants to act one way or another?

Before you answer, think for a moment: What information do you base your prediction on?

Once you've composed and posted your answer (below), you'll see how the experiment concluded.