Wednesday's Words of Wisdom: Stanley Milgram on Conscience Vs Obedience

Thought for the Day: As the sad news about the suspects in the Boston Marathon Bombings come in, many questions are still unanswered. Stanley Milgram was a Yale psychologist whose conducted research on conscience & obedience to authority. His findings sheds light on possible explanations for how young people lose sight of right & wrong when they submit to the authority of leaders or older siblings. Psychologists & educators must focus on ways to prevent what leads some people to be influenced by authority figures into committing violent attacks. According to Milgram, "The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority." How can we help teach people to resist the pressure to conform & to hold onto a sense of responsibility for one's own acts? Have our schools been paying too little attention to these issues as we focus on the 3 R's & standardized testing? I believe that we must help children & young adults learn to respect one another regardless of race, religion or ethnic background & teach them to settle differences without violence or physical harm to another human being. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

To read more about Milgram's work take a look at The Milgram Experiment on Simple Psychology.org's site