Decision Making Essay #2 (Essay Sample)

Decision making
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Activity 1: The Milgram Experiment
To what extent would you be capable of inflicting real pain (physical, mental and/or emotional) on another human being?
Human beings are believed to be the only creatures in the planet to be inflicted pain knowingly on other creatures. It is considered unethical to inflict pain on other fellow human beings yet on several occasion people have gone beyond ethics to get the satisfaction out of other peoples suffering and pain. The biggest question that comes up because of this is to what extent one can inflict pain on another fellow human being. The society has different types of people whose potential lies in inflicting pain on others. There are those who hurt fellow human beings just because they are extremely insensitive whereas the second group consists of those people who looking for opportunities to cause others feel the pain and get satisfaction out of it. Research has not shown what goes in the mind of a sociopath when inflicting pain on others. Sociopaths enjoy watching others being in pain. The natural emotions and feelings of human beings are to alleviate pain for those who are suffering from it. Therefore, inflicting pain on other human beings is unimaginable act that human beings should not be portraying ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1037/a0014407", "ISBN" : "0003066X", "ISSN" : "0003-066X", "PMID" : "19209960", "abstract" : "In \"Replicating Milgram: Would People Still Obey Today?\" Jerry M. Burger reported a high base rate of obedience, comparable to that observed by Stanley Milgram (1974). Another condition, involving a defiant confederate, failed to significantly reduce obedience. This commentary discusses the primary contributions of Burger's study in terms of (a) its novel methodological variation on Milgram's original paradigm (the \"150-volt solution\") and (b) its attention to ethical concerns so as to minimize participant discomfort and ensure institutional review board approval. Burger's technique could unlock research on behavioral aspects of obedience, which has been essentially muted for several decades. However, Burger's intensive efforts to improve the ethics of the study may be exaggerated, are uncertain in their effectiveness, and pose impractical demands. Different procedures used by Milgram and Burger in the modeled refusal condition preclude a clear explanation for the results and challenge Burger's emphasis on the comparability of his and Milgram's experiments. This study documents the complexities of extending research on destructive obedience in the context of contemporary ethical guidelines.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Miller", "given" : "Arthur G", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "The American psychologist", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2009" ] ] }, "page" : "20-27", "title" : "Reflections on \"Replicating Milgram\" (Burger, 2009).", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "64" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=eb22b338-f65c-40e7-be37-f1b2e9e7fd65", "/documents/?uuid=ebbbe885-5825-4e55-945c-bd1bd3dccb85" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Miller 2009)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Miller 2009. pp.20–27). Activity 2: Solomon Asch and Group ConformityDoes your personal decision-making always reflect an objective process?
An individual's objectives should always be guided by his or her person process of decision making. The individual should be at liberty to make decisions that align to his or her objectives without being interfered. My personal decision should be part of my plans to meet my objective hence should be self-owned and directed towards a reflection of the objectives.Does the desire to be accepted as part of a group makes a person susceptible to group’s norms?
Naturally, every human being in a social set up belong to a given group which they would like to be identified by it. The desire to be accepted in a certain group leaves an individual exposed and susceptible to peer influence. An individual may end up doing things to fulfill the desire of a group or to fit in a certain group. This conformity in groups may put an individual at risk in the process of fulfilling the norms of the group.Identify and discuss situational factors that can enable a group to exert pressure strong enough to change a member’s attitude and behaviour.
Groups are known to influence an individual ways of thinking and acting. For an individual to feel accepted and secure in a group, he or she must behave like the rest of the members. These pressures make and individual ways or behaviors so as to fit in the group. In cases where an individual is threatened by a drug cartel in a street to join them, and he or she has no option of turning away because of the fear of his or her life, the individual may decide to join the group due to lack of options. Other situational factors that change attitudes and behaviors of individuals are poverty, peer pressure, social insecurity in the surrounding among others ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.3389/fnhum.2013.00050", "ISBN" : "1662-5161 (Electronic)\\r1662-5161 (Linking)", "ISSN" : "1662-5161", "PMID"...