(The following is not an article written by me alone, but is information gathered from the sources cited at the bottom of the page.)
The evidence is there; “authority clouds people's ethical judgements,” and if they are not so easily intimidated, they may be easier brainwashed. People are prone to obeying authority even if what is asked of them is clearly morally wrong. Since many are looking for someone else to tell them the way, they are vulnerable to allowing the manipulation of their minds.
In 1966 Psychiatrist Charles Hofling described an experimental protocol. (What was especially sad about this experiment is that those involved were not brainwashed victims, but they understood the choice they were making as well as the potential consequence.)
The experimental procedures were explained to a group of twelve nurses and twenty-one nursing students. The experiment would involve an unknown doctor calling real nurses on the hospital's night shift and asking them to administer twice the maximum dose of an unapproved drug to a patient. Unbeknown to the nurses, the "medicine" was actually a harmless sugar pill and the doctor was a fake.
They were asked to predict how many nurses, would give an overdose of a drug to the patient. Out of the twelve nurses, ten said they wouldn’t do it. Out of the nursing students all twenty-one said they’d refuse to administer the drug.
When Dr. Hofling actually tried the experiment 22 nurses at a hospital in the United States were chosen. “They were each called by an experimenter with the alias of Dr. Smith who said that he would be around to write up the paperwork as soon as he got to the hospital.” The nurses were stopped at the door to the patient’s room before they could administer the "drug".
Dr. Hofling discovered that 21 out of the 22 nurses would have given the patient an overdose of medicine. None of the investigators, and only one experienced nurse who examined the protocol in advance, correctly guessed the experimental results. He also found that all 22 nurses whom he had given the questionnaire to had said they would not obey the orders of the doctor, and that 10 out of the 22 nurses had done this before, with a different drug. The researchers clearly labeled the drug, so nurses knew they were overdosing their patients. The nurses also violated hospital rules by taking instructions over the phone and giving an unapproved medicine. With results like this it’s a wonder many would be surprised at all.
The nurses were thought to have allowed themselves to be deceived because of their high opinions of the standards of the medical profession. “The study revealed the danger to patients that existed because the nurses' view of professional standards induced them to suppress their good judgment.”
More troubling news is the evidence of how easily people can be brainwashed, something which has been proven on the largest of scales. In America the Jonestown Massacre comes to mind, where the death toll was 918 people: most deadly single non-natural disaster in U.S. history until September 11, 2001. Nazi Germany comes to mind when it comes to examples in history where millions seem to be brainwashed.
In the 1950s, the CIA launched a top-secret program called MKULTRA. The purpose of this was to discover any possible means to use in controlling peoples minds.
“For two decades, the CIA used hallucinogens, sleep deprivation and electrical shock techniques in their endeavor at perfecting brainwashing.”
CIA scientists conducted hundreds of research projects as part of MKULTRA. One project involved testing the effects of LSD in public by slipping the drug to unaware bar patrons in New York and San Francisco.
In 1973 CIA Director Richard Helms ordered documents related to the project destroyed, in fear over the outcome of the Watergate scandal. Some documents escaped destruction. In 1977 a Freedom of Information Act request released more than 20,000 pages on the sordid program to author John Marks.
The truth of humanity we don’t want to see is if people are not so easily intimidated, they may be easier brainwashed. People are prone to obeying authority, even if what is asked of them is clearly morally wrong. And since many are looking for someone else to tell them the way, instead of trusting their intuition, many are vulnerable to allowing the manipulation of their minds.
- Basic Psychiatric Concepts in Nursing (1960). Charles K. Hofling, Madeleine M. Leininger,
Elizabeth Bregg. J. B. Lippencott, 2nd ed. 1967: ISBN 0-397-54062-0
- Textbook of Psychiatry for Medical Practice edited by C. K. Hofling. J. B. Lippencott, 3rd ed.
1975: ISBN 0-397-52070-0
- Aging: The Process and the People (1978). Usdin, Gene & Charles K. Hofling, editors.
American College of Psychiatrists. New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers
- The Family: Evaluation and Treatment (1980). ed. C. K. Hofling and J. M. Lewis, New York:
Brunner/Mazel Publishers
- Law and Ethics in the Practice of Psychiatry (1981). New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, ISBN 0-87630-250-9
- Custer and the Little Big Horn: A Psychobiographical Inquiry (1985). Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0-8143-1814-2
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DeclassifiedMKULTRA.jpg
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