Computer Characters Tortured for Science

Rob Carr writes "Considered unethical to ever perform again with humans, researcher Mel Slater recreated the Milgram experiment in a immersive virtual environment. Subjects (some of whom could see and hear the computerized woman, others who were only able to read text messages from her) were told that they were interacting with a computer character and told to give increasingly powerful electric shocks when wrong answers were given or the 'woman' took too long to respond. The computer program would correspondingly complain and beg as the 'shocks' were ramped up, falling apparently unconscious before the last shock. The skin conductance and electrocardiograms of the subjects were monitored. Even though the subjects knew they were only 'shocking' a computer program, their bodies reacted with increased stress responses. Several of the ones who could see and hear the woman stopped before reaching the 'lethal' voltage, and about half considered stopping the study. The full results of the experimental report can be read online at PLoS One. Already, some (like William Dutton of the Oxford Internet Institute) are asking whether even this sanitized experiment is ethical."

Comments

Training aid for torturers

[Animats]

This sounds like a training aid for torturers. Attorney General Gonzales ("Mr. Torture Memo") would love this.

Re:Did subjects know about the Milgram experiment?

[PriceIke]

I've got some karma to burn and this annoys me.

Those familiar with the Milgram experiment and quitting THIS study are just fucking stupid. It's a god damn virtual person. IT IS NOT A REAL PERSON! There is no torture going on .. only exchanges of bits flowing through a system which is working in perfect order. If you KNOW it is a digital simulacra of a person and you refuse to participate in an exercise which simulates pain in the simulacra then you failed the test.

Now, maybe it was a really gruesome and bloody reaction that was shown, like the sim violently convulsing and bleeding from the eyes. Okay, I could see getting squeamish about that. I don't particularly like slasher films, myself. But if it was just about refusing to participate because the subject didn't feel comfortable causing non-existant pain in a non-existant entity then the subject is just too gorram emo to walk this earth.

These are the same people who think playing a game like GTA or Doom is a predictor of violent behavior in the real world. (People like that oughta be eviscerated, ba da bum tsh teehee)