Tag Archives: Situationist Blog
Social Psychologist Admits Faking Results
Diederik Stapel, a prominent Dutch social psychologist, has admitted to fabricating data for dozens of published studies, as has been reported by New Scientist and Nature. The full report on the extent of Stapel’s fraud is in Dutch, so I … Continue reading
The Psychology of Cover-Ups
Time Magazine has a great article on the psychology of cover-ups in the context of the recent events at Penn State (trigger warning for discussions of sexual abuse). Here is a choice snippet: When the actions of a group are … Continue reading
Fraud against the elderly
Hello world – I’ve spent the last several months graduating from law school and moving instead of posting to Whoselaw. I hope to start posting regularly here again soon. My first “welcome back” post is going to be this link … Continue reading
New Milgram research
Dominic J. Packer, of Ohio State University, performed a statistical meta-analysis on several of the original Milgram experiments, in which experimental participants were asked to administer progressively severe electric shocks to another individual (the other person was in reality an actor who was not in fact receiving shocks). . . . Overall these two studies emphasize the vulnerability of people whose choices, even choices to avoid pain, are disregarded or seen as not really their own. Although the choices of even perceived “competent” choice-makers are often disregarded in the face of authoritarian pressure, it is respect for those people’s choices that seems most important in causing people to resist those pressures. Take away that respect, and hope of humane treatment could grow incresingly dim. Continue reading
