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Breaching Experiments on the New York City Subway

Submitted by niftyc on Wed, 07/30/2008 - 20:26
In an investigation of norms, psychologist Stanley Milgram has graduate student researchers ask strangers on the NY subway to give up their seat during rush hour for no apparent reason.  Surprisingly, the experiment produced anxiety and physical illness in the researchers (including Milgram).  Student researchers reported that they are still traumatized by the experience thirty years later.

Excuse Me. May I Have Your Seat?

Submitted by niftyc on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 18:45.

Here is a NY Times article about this research, titled "Excuse Me. May I Have Your Seat?" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/nyregion/14subway.html?pagewanted=all&...

Did many of the strangers

Submitted by Paul (not verified) on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 10:46.

Did many of the strangers stand up?

yes!

Submitted by niftyc on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 11:06.
In the 1974 study, 68% of strangers did give up their seat.

That is unusual how the

Submitted by Nick (not verified) on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 13:24.

That is unusual how the experiment produced such affects? How could the correlation between illness and the experiment be proven? It would be pragmatic to assume a spurious relationship.
Cheers!

Actually I think the link is

Submitted by niftyc on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 22:48.
Actually I think the link is not hard to corroborate. Just try breaking a norm. The literature in ethnomethodology describes a number of "breaching experiments" like these that were used to investigate social norms starting in the 1960s. If you try to break a strong social norm, you'll feel the effects -- due to acute embarrassment. Flushed face, nausea, perspiration, etc. were all described by Milgram and that's what happens to me as well when I embarrass myself. However, I'm not sure how they made a case for permanent trauma.