The Robber’s Cave Experiment

I have always been intrigued by famous social experiments, like the Standford Prison Experiment, and Milgram’s Obedience Experiments, so imagine my pleasure when I came across Gina Perry’s ‘The Lost Boys’ which outlines the Robber’s Cave Experiment. My guess is you haven’t heard of this one before, and that is a shame. The point of the trial was to examine group dynamics, force derision and animosity between two teams of 10 year old boys at a summer camp, then see if they could be brought back together as one unit at the end. Seems simple enough right? Well, let’s just say that things don’t go as planned, and the researchers/counselors are forced to incite conflict in the form of cabin raids, flag burning, and even a planned forest fire. It is a wild story. I do have to add that the unfortunate part of all of the these experiments is that while they were unethical, and borderline amoral, they did seem to reveal fundamental human truths, which is what makes then so enduring and compelling even today.

The Milgram Obedience Experiments

The 1950’s and 60’s were a strange time in American culture as it related to human behavior.  Behind the scenes, you had the MK Ultra experiments trying to unlock the secrets to mind control.  More publicly, you had Dr. Phillip Zimbardo and Stanley Milgram conducting social science experiments designed to show the extremes in human nature, and how we can be manipulated by the subtle social forces at work.  All of these existed at a time where rules, ethics, and morals were not present as these scientists searched for a universal truth to human nature.  Today’s episode looks at Dr. Stanley Milgram and his famous obedience experiments, where he wanted to prove that simply having a man in a white lab coat telling you to do something, caused people to comply.  But was this the whole story?  Two-time guest Gina Perry walks us through her research, and we might discover that this experiment didn’t exactly prove what Dr. Milgram desperately wanted it to.