雅思阅读材料：电击试验

　　Milgrams Study of Obedience

　　Aims： Milgram was sceptical about the idea that only strict authoritive figures could afflict the horrors seen during World War Two by the Nazis. He wanted to prove this view held by the general public wrong, by doing an obedience experiment to show that ordinary people of the general public could inflict harm on other human beings.

　　Procedures： 40 males aged 20-50 were recruited through a newspaper advertisement, and paid $4.50 to participate in a study regarding memory. Participants were introduced to a confederate, Mr. Wallice. Lots were drawn to decide who would be the teacher and who would be the learner （the participant always became the teacher）. The learner was strapped into a chair with electrodes on his hands.

　　The participant was to ask the learner questions, each incorrect answer was punished with an electric shock, beginning at 15 volts （very mild）, going up by 15 volts for every incorrect answer up to 450 volts （danger - severe shock, xxx）. The learner stated he had a mild heart condition.

　　Shocks were received in silence up until 300 volts, Mr. Wallice then complained of having heart trouble and pounded on the door to be let out. He then refused to answer any more questions. After a short while he became silent and was presumed unconscious or dead.

　　If the teachers questioned the experimenter （also a confederate）, they were presented with four orders：

　　1. Please continue,

　　2. The experiment requires you to continue,

　　3. It is essential that you continue,

　　4. You have no choice, you must continue.

　　If the participant still refused to administer any more shocks, they were allowed to stop.

　　Unknown to the participant, the experimenter was an actor, as was the learner. The lots drawn to distinguish roles were fixed, and the electric shocks WERE NOT REAL.

　　Findings： Before the experiment began a class of psychology students were asked to estimate the percentage of participants who would continue giving shocks up to 450v, they estimated only 3%.

　　No one actually stopped below the level of intense shock. 22.5% stopped at 315v （extremely intense）, 65% continued up until the maximum shock of 450v.

　　Participants showed extreme tension, biting fingernails, sweating, trembling, stuttering, groaning and three of the participants actually had full blown seizures.

　　During debriefing the participants completed a follow up questionnaire. 84% of them felt glad that they participated, 74% learnt something of personal importance.

　　Conclusion： Participants showed obedience to unjust authority beyond what anyone imagined. It showed how ordinary people could mindlessly obey orders to hurt another human being. The strengths of obedience and the tension created by social pressure were surprising.

　　Evaluation： It was UNETHICAL. Participants were recieved into believing it was a memory task, that the shocks were real and they did not have the right to withdraw or to give informed consent. They were also subjected to psychological harm. Milgram counteracts this argument by saying they were thoroughly debriefed and that from the questionnaire, they had been happy to have participated.

　　It lacked INTERNAL VALIDITY. The participants could not have belived the shocks were real. However Milgram states that from the results of the questionnaire, most participants believed in the setup.

　　It lacked EXTERNAL VALIDITY. This situation was unlikely to occur in everyday life therefore the participants acted in a different way to how they would usually act and the results could not be generalised to the real world. Though Milgram states that the participants clearly believed the situation was real （shown in video footage of the experiment） so the experiment had MUNDANE REALISM.

　　The participants could have been affected by OTHER FACTORS such as the prestigous environment.

　　There is vast CROSS-CULTURAL SUPPORT from further similar studies.

　　Other Points： Variations of this study has been carried out to investigate the effects of：

　　Environment,

　　Proximity to the victim,

　　Authoritive figures,

　　Social support and

　　Other factors have on the extent of obedience.

　　参考中文：

　　服从是指按照他人命令去行动的行为，也是人际互动的基本方式之一。但是，服从与从众有着本质的不同。在从众情况下的个体，虽然没有按照自己的本愿去行动，但却是自愿的；而在服从情况下的个体，则完全是在不自愿的情况下，应别人的要求去行动的。服从包括两个方面：对权威人物命令的服从，在有一定组织的群体规范影响下的服从。

　　关于服从的经典研究是由社会心理学家米尔格拉姆（S.Milgram）于1963年在美国的耶鲁大学进行的。这项研究是社会心理学领域中最具影响力的实验之一。米尔格拉姆通过公开招聘的方式，以每小时付给4.5美元的价格招聘到40名自愿参加者，他们包括教师、工程师、邮局职员、工人和商人，平均年龄在25~50岁之间。

　　实验者告诉被试，他们将参加一项研究惩罚对学生学习的影响的实验，要求两人一组，用抽签的方式决定其中一人当学生，另一人当教师。教师的任务是朗读配对的关联词，学生的任务是记住这些词，然后教师呈现这些词，让学生在给定的四个词中选择一个正确的答案，如果选错了，教师就通过按电钮给学生以电击作为惩罚。

　　事实上，研究者事先已经安排了每次抽签的结果总是真正的被试作为教师，而作为学生的却是实验者助手。实验过程中，当学生的假被试和当教师的真被试被分别安排在不同的房间里，学生的胳膊上绑上电极，被绑在椅子上，以便在记忆词汇发生错误时被教师惩罚。

　　教师与学生之间是通过声讯的方式进行联系的。教师的操作台上每个电键都标明了电击的严重程度，从15V的轻微，到450V的致命。这些电击实际上都是假的，但为了使教师相信整个实验，首先让其接受一次强度为45V的电击作为体验。

　　在实验中，每当学生出错，主试就命令教师施与电击，而且要逐步加大强度，随着电击强度的增加，学生也由呻吟、叫喊、怒骂逐渐到哀求、讨饶、踢打，最后昏厥。若被试表现犹豫，主试则严厉地督促他们继续实验，并说一切后果由实验者承担。

　　结果显示，在整个实验过程中，当电压增加到300V时，只有5人拒绝再提高电压；当电压增加到315V时，又有4人拒绝服从命令；电压为330V时，又有2人表示拒绝；之后，在电压达到345V、360V、375V时，又各有1人拒绝服从命令。共有14人（占被试的35%）做出了种种反抗，拒绝执行主试的命令。另外26名被试（占被试的65%）则服从了实验者的命令，坚持到实验的最后，尽管他们表现出了不同程度的紧张和焦虑。

　　影响服从的因素很多，概括起来主要有三个方面：

　　（1）命令发出者。他的权威性，他对执行命令者是否关心、爱护，他是否监督命令执行的全过程等，都会影响到服从。

　　（2）命令的执行者。他的道德水平、人格特征以及文化背景等也都会影响到他对命令的服从。

　　（3）情境因素。例如是否有人支持自己的拒绝行为，周围人的榜样行为怎样，奖励结构的设置情况，自己拒绝或执行命令的行为反馈情况怎样等，也会影响到个体的服从行为。

　　社会心理学家认为个体之所以会有服从行为，主要的原因是两个。

　　一、合法权力。我们通常认为，在一定情境下，社会赋予了某些社会角色更大的权力，而自己有服从他们的义务。比如学生应该服从教师，病人应该服从医生等，在实验室中，被试就应该服从主试，特别是陌生的情境更加强了被试服从主试命令的准备状态。

　　二、责任转移。一般情况下，我们对于自己的行为都有自己的责任意识，如果我们认为造成某种行为的责任不在自己，特别是当有指挥官主动承担责任时，我们就会认为该行为的主导者不在自己，而在指挥官。因此，我们就不需要对此行为负责，于是发生了责任转移，使得人们不考虑自己的行为后果。

　　以上就是雅思为大家整理的雅思阅读材料：电击试验，内容不多，但非常实用，雅思预祝大家在雅思考试中取得好成绩！