 |
Virtual Milgram Experiment
Researcher Mel Slater, who works at the Catalan Polytechnic University in Barcelona, Spain, and at University College London, UK, has set up a virtual reality version of the famous Stanley Milgram experiment of the 1960's.
In Milgram's earlier version, volunteers were told by an authority figure to deliver electric shocks to another person as punishment during a "test." No actual shocks were given; the "punished" person faked increasingly emotional reactions. Sixty-five percent of the volunteers administered shocks that could be fatal, astounding a generation of psychologists.
(Shocks given to virtual woman)
In Slater's virtual version, volunteers in an immersive virtual environment administered "shocks" to a virtual woman character. Half of the volunteers could see the woman character; the others interacted only with text. The context of the experiment was that the virtual woman was answering questions in a test. When she gave an incorrect answer, volunteers were told to give her shocks of increasing voltage as time went on. The virtual woman responded with cries of pain and protest.
Despite the fact that all volunteers knew that the subject of the experiment was not a real human being, they typically became more anxious as the experiment proceeded. Measures of stress, like heart rate and palm sweatiness, increased for many volunteers. About fifty percent of those who could see the woman character confided after the experiment that they thought about quitting, and several of them actually did. Volunteers who could not see the woman character were more likely to administer shocks of maximum voltage than those who could see her.
Why would people care about a virtual character in a clearly contrived experiment? It appears that the emotional brain of the human volunteers didn't quite get the message that this was only virtual reality.
Milgram's classic experiment was about obedience to authority - how volunteers tended to obey an authority figure despite the warnings of conscience. He wrote:
Stark authority was pitted against the [participants'] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the [participants'] ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.
In Slater's study, the remarkable thing is that the virtual reality setup appears to provide an accurate assessment of the body's anxious reaction to a morally conflicted situation. According to Slater, it does this without violating the ethics of experimenters; Milgram's experiment resulted in a year-long delay in his application for membership to the American Psychological Association due to ethics questions. Other psychologists have contested this, saying that even when this experiment is performed in a virtual environment, it still has an ethically troubling effect on participants.
I'm curious about what this experiment says about the different uses of virtual violence in science fiction. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, there are long sequences that take place in the holodeck - a virtual reality environment. In at least one episode, Captain Picard "guns down" virtual figures without appearing anxious. However, all of the human characters are very solicitous of the "feelings" of Commander Data, an android robot, and are concerned when he is harmed.
I also wonder about games like Grand Theft Auto, in which violence toward virtual characters is expected and rewarded. Do people self-select when they choose to buy or play the game? Are there friends of these self-selected players who become to anxious to continue playing when they see what happens to the virtual characters? From Virtual reality shocker.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/26/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion (Back On) ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
German Firm Seeks To Recruit Autistics
Large corporations seem to be learning that people with autism can have unique strengths.
Personal Sniffer Robots
'...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'- Ray Bradbury, 1953.
A Big Collection Of Small Books
'Black, oblong, no larger than the end of Paul's thumb... It's a very old Orange Catholic Bible made for space travelers.'- Frank Herbert, 1965.
SimSensei Plus Kinnect Equals PKD's Voight-Kampff?
'We know this to be a primary autonomic response...'- Philip K. Dick, 1968.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Sweat Be Gone! Non-Wetting Fabric
'The skin-contact layer is porous.'
German Firm Seeks To Recruit Autistics
Not a deficit, but a strength.
NASA Supports Pizza Printer
Is it extra with printed pepperoni?
Could Ground-Based Lasers De-Orbit Space Junk?
'Then their lasers vaporized the smaller satellites...'
'Hello, Computer!' Google Now Highlighted at IO13
'Hello, computer!'
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
CARMAT Bioprosthetic Total Human Heart Replacement
'George Walt's corporate existence proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...'
Personal Sniffer Robots
'...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'
Physical Exam? We've Got Apps
See the future of handheld, personal medical devices.
The Interplanetary Internet, Vint Cerf Speaking
'This was the center of Interplanetary Communications.'
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'
Japan's Nursing Home Robot Plan
Let's make the Roujin Z-0001 Robotic Bed!
Samsung Smart TVs With Gesture Control
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
