Aim: “to understand which kinds of people are more or less willing to obey these kinds of orders” (Shim)

Procedure:

o During 8 months, participants were interviewed and their personal history was reviewed to determine their personality and mark tendencies about behavior (Shim).

o The data was matched to their behavior during the experiment, making distinctions from agreeable vs.

non-agreeable people.

o Milgram used “an electric shock indicator, a way to quantify and measure a person’s willingness to torture.

No one would be actually shocked, the confederate would fake it” (Harris).

o Required the experimenter to order the subject to perform.

Findings: “People who were normally friendly followed orders because they didn't want to upset others, while those

who were described as unfriendly stuck up for themselves” (Shim).

65% of people hit the 450-volt button three times before Milgram cut them off (Harris).

All subjects reached 300 volts (Harris).

Agreeable people tended to follow an order even when it contradicted their morals to please an authority.

Experiment attempts to test conformity of

people in situations of pressure induced by an

authority.

Agreeable people are thought of as “nice” when in reality they are the ones tending to do harm to others through

the need to please.

Tools to explain Human Behavior

Economics

ASSUMPTIONS Simplified idea,

Claim that has no support,

A supposition

Develop economic theory that can be applied in

various scenarios

Most common assumptions:

EVERYONE REACTS IN A RATIONAL WAY

Existence of FULL POTENTIAL PRODUCTION

“CETERIS PARIBUS”

All other variables

remain the same

can be over simplified (inaccurate, unreliable)

turn complicated situation into

applicable tendency

tool to explain human behavior

Psychology

STEREOTYPES Simplify information

about our world.

Social categorization

allows understanding

of our social world

through stereotypes

Campbell (1967)

Ways in which

stereotypes are formed

Personal Experience:

Grain of Truth Hypothesis

states that we will generalize a behavior of people according to

our experience with an

individual

EXAMPLE: getting mugged by a

black person and generalizing

that most black people will

steal (Baez).

Gatekeepers:

How stereotypes are

perpetuated (media,

parents, others).

EXAMPLE: parents telling a

child to stay away from

black people because most

of them steal (Baez)

inaccurate perceptions of

individuals/groups (unreliable)

generalize characteristics and avoid overload of

information

tool to predict behavior through

categorization

Influences on Human Behavior

Government intervention

Supply-side policies:

Improve efficiency and productivity

Market-based

policies (gov. Does not have active job)

- Removing

unemployment benefits

SUPPOSED

TO MOTIVATE

WORK

(human behavior)

COULD CAUSE

MORE UNEMPLOYMENT

(human behavior

influenced)

Not applicable in every

country because of socio-cultural guidelines

Behavior:

Conformity in Psychology

Solomon Asch (1951)

Aim: to find out to what extent

participants will conform to an incorrect unanimous answer.

Procedure:

o 6 confederates dressed in business

suits + one researcher

o 18 trials (confederates answered

correctly only the first few trials,

then, provided 12 incorrect answers)

o Participant ALWAYS next to last

o All men

o Told they were on a vision judgment

test

Findings:

75% of participants conformed

at least once

32% conformed in half or more of the trials

24% never conformed

FEELINGS

Self-doubt

Did not want to be against the

group

Fear of ruining experiment

Need to belong

Behavior is explained by

how individuals and societies conform and adjust behaviors that

are influenced through the need to belong and

avoid the feeling of being left out.

Accuracy and Inaccuracy

Predictions

Economics

Demand & Supply:

Accurate predictions

Demand: quantity of a good or

service that a person is willing

and able to purchase at a certain

price

Law of demand: as price goes up

quantity demanded goes down

Predictions Price goes up quantity

demanded goes down

Giffen goods: good that is so

inferior that it is easily replaced

by any other good

Veblen goods: good that shows

power or luxury, therefore it is

desired because of its exclusivity

Predictions Price goes down quantity

demanded goes down Price goes up quantity

demanded goes up

Special

Cases:

Inaccurate

predictions

Describe a tendency that occurs within

human behavior in the purchase of goods and services accurately in

general terms and with its exceptions described.

It has inaccuracies that show not all

individuals or

societies act as expected.

Accurate in the tendencies established laws for the

general public, but there are always special cases and

undescribed cases.

Conformity Psychology

Conformity: Accuracy

Conformity provides an

insight for behavior and how individuals may oppose to their beliefs in order to satisfy a

group or be part of it.

Factors

Influencing

Conformity:

Inaccuracy

Conformity may also be influenced by various

factors like: Group Size, Unanimity, Confidence,

Self-Esteem and

Culture.

EXAMPLE: Perrin and Spencer replicated the same study in

1988 in regard to a factor influencing conformity – confidence.

Partially replicated Asch’s study: Procedure

o Participants were engineers and medical students. Findings

Almost no conformity

The more confident participants are on the topic, the less

they will conform.

Behavior is explained by how individuals and

societies conform and

adjust behaviors that are influenced through the need to belong and

avoid the feeling of being left out.

How do the AOK provide an

explanation of the behavior

of individuals and society?

- In Economics as well as in Psychology there is a

large spectrum of circumstances that cannot be

fully explained through the generalization

established.

- When attempting to influence human behavior,

results can be either expected or unexpected.

- Overall AOK are able to explain behavior with

limited accuracy.

RLS:

History

Psychology explains the behavior of German soldiers that worked in concentration camps like the

experiment presented by Stanley Milgram.

German soldiers, as agreeable and obedient people follow an

authority’s order to please them.

Not necessarily because Germans were evil they tortured people in

concentration camps, their behavior is explained through psychology by the need to belong and conformity.

Normative Social Influence

conform to BELONG (Baez).

As Milgram said, “I would say… that if a system of death camps were set up

in the United States of the sort we

had seen in Nazi Germany, one would be able to find sufficient personnel for

these camps in any medium-sized American town” (Harris).

Behavior is explained through Psychology

since German

soldiers/Nazi Germany would conform and

therefore act against their morals.

Real Life Situation: Dollarization

Pre-dollarization

era consisted of an accentuated inflation for the

last 5 years approximately

Solutions previous to dollarization included:

- Reduction of money supply - Increase of Interest Rates

No economic theory seemed to solve the

problem

Excessive and uncontrollable

inflation leads to dollarization

Economic theory cannot

always rely on the expected

human behavior

Economics

cannot explain

why citizens acted in this

way

Sources

Information

Harris, Malcom. "The Psychology of Torture." Aeon Magazine. Aeon Media Ltd., 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2014. <http://aeon.co/magazine/psychology/why-do-we-keep-repeating-the- milgram-experiments/>. Shim, Eileen. "Psychologists Have Uncovered a Troubling Feature of People Who Seem Nice All the Time." Mic. Mic Network Inc., 30 June 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2014. <http://mic.com/articles/92479/psychologists-have-uncovered-a-troubling-feature-of-

people-who-seem-nice-all-the-time>. Taken from: Baez, Mónica. “Socio-Cultural Level of Analysis: Social Categorization.” Class. Carcelén, Quito. Psychology.

Images Bartlett, Tom. "The ‘Secret’ Milgram Experiments." Percolator The Secret Milgram Experiments Comments. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 24 July 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/the-secret-milgram-experiments/33173>.

Carey, Benedict. "Decades Later, Still Asking: Would I Pull That Switch?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 June 2008. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01mind.html?_r=0>. Piblogger. "Tenders and the Wisdom of Crowds by Tom Moore."Procurement Insights EU Edition.

WordPress, 09 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014. <http://procureinsightseu.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/tenders-and-the-wisdom-of-crowds- by-tom-moore/>.