Zimbardo’s research, which was discovered through psychological observations, shows that as long as time keeps passing by, good people will continue to commit evil acts when they are put under certain conditions that test the strength of their morals and personal conscience. His research provides a lens for the explanation of the meaning and causes of these recurring evil phenomenon. Thomas Paine’s famous quote, “These are the times that try men’s souls” strongly relates to the actions that occurred in The Milgram Experiment, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and The Lottery because the certain conditions that these individuals endured in these harsh environments striped away their personal morals, and revealed the evil tendencies of human beings.
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The Lottery is a short story that demonstrates similar aspects behind the Milgram and Stanford Experiments. In the Milgram Experiment, Stanley Milgram, a psychologist from Yale University, conducted an experiment that focused on the conflict between obedience to authority and their personal conscience. In this experiment, an individual was directed by a “scientist” to shock a man whenever he got a question wrong. This individual continued to shock the man, who continuously screamed for him to stop, but the individual finally stopped shocking the man after a certain amount of voltages was reached. In the Stanford Prison Experiment, men were chosen for the roles of either prisoners or prison guards, in a simulated prison environment in the basement of Stanford’s psychology department. The experiment was meant to last two weeks but was ended after six days, due to several mental breakdowns, acts of cruelty, and a hunger strike. In The Lottery, every year on June 27th, the individual in the village that receives a folded piece of paper with a black dot is chosen to be sacrificed through a public stoning. This occurrence is a well-known tradition in the village, but in the year that the readers are told about, Tess Hutchinson, the …show more content…
Throughout the plot, ignorance eventually goes away in the certain conditions of their society. Before Tessie had picked the paper with the black dot, “The Lottery” seemed like an annual town affair. However, once she was placed in the center of a cleared space, “she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said.” as a stone hit the side of her head. The significance of this reading is to show how individuals’ judgment can be changed once they experience the true consequences of their actions, instead of others taking responsibility for their
The Lottery is a short story that demonstrates similar aspects behind the Milgram and Stanford Experiments. In the Milgram Experiment, Stanley Milgram, a psychologist from Yale University, conducted an experiment that focused on the conflict between obedience to authority and their personal conscience. In this experiment, an individual was directed by a “scientist” to shock a man whenever he got a question wrong. This individual continued to shock the man, who continuously screamed for him to stop, but the individual finally stopped shocking the man after a certain amount of voltages was reached. In the Stanford Prison Experiment, men were chosen for the roles of either prisoners or prison guards, in a simulated prison environment in the basement of Stanford’s psychology department. The experiment was meant to last two weeks but was ended after six days, due to several mental breakdowns, acts of cruelty, and a hunger strike. In The Lottery, every year on June 27th, the individual in the village that receives a folded piece of paper with a black dot is chosen to be sacrificed through a public stoning. This occurrence is a well-known tradition in the village, but in the year that the readers are told about, Tess Hutchinson, the …show more content…
Throughout the plot, ignorance eventually goes away in the certain conditions of their society. Before Tessie had picked the paper with the black dot, “The Lottery” seemed like an annual town affair. However, once she was placed in the center of a cleared space, “she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said.” as a stone hit the side of her head. The significance of this reading is to show how individuals’ judgment can be changed once they experience the true consequences of their actions, instead of others taking responsibility for their