RS4: Reaction to Fear Thy Nature Podcast

RS4: Reaction to Fear Thy Nature Podcast

            After listening to this podcast, I have come to the conclusion that the information in this podcast slightly resembles the guidepost to economic thinking that says individuals make decisions at the margin.  Making a decision at the margin means considering the cost between two alternatives and making a decision based on the benefits of one alternative over the other.  Although this podcast speaks nothing of a decision regarding money, it talks about the people’s decisions on how to act when put in certain situations.

            This podcast begins by introducing Philip Zimbardo, a professor of psychology at Stanford University.  Back in 1971 he performed an experiment known as the Stanford Prison Experiment in which he had a group of 24 male undergraduate students act as prisoners and guards.  The experiment was supposed to last a whole two weeks but only lasted a short six days.  The reason behind this was because the guards began to abuse their “power” on the prisoners.  Approximately one third of the guards began to abuse the prisoners by chaining them down, putting bags over their heads, and forcing them to do things that they did not have to do.  Even Zimbardo himself began to take on the Prison Superintendent role and became very stiff and upright in his stature, thinking he was above everyone else in the “prison”.  Although this was just taking place in the university, the sense of power and the idea of a higher ranked position rushed to the guards heads thinking that they were superior over the prisoners, when in fact they were all the same: just typical male undergraduate students.  The decision to be superior over the other men came from the two alternatives: be a nice guard, or be an extremely overbearing powerful guard.  Considering the situation and the environment, the “guards” thought it would be better to me more powerful, rather than being nicer.

            Another situation that the podcast brought up was a play in New York City that was unlike any other.  The play was called, “Sleep No More”, and it was one where the audience was able to fully interact with the actors.  There was no definite stage, the stage was an old, abandoned, six floored factory in which audience members had to walk throughout the building to see what was going on.  Audience members were instructed to be completely silent, to turn off their phones, and to wear a mask on their faces at all times.  While on the “stage”, audience members were allowed to touch the props, characters, or anything else that they felt that they needed to touch.  While this seems like a very interesting experience, it led to a lot of mischief on stage.  Audience members said that they felt the need to be loud and talk, steal props, and even have sex on the stage.  These spectators had to decide whether they wanted to act morally and properly, or if they wanted to disobey the rules and do anything they wanted too.  The decision had to be made because of the environment that they were thrown into.  An environment where every ones identity was masked and there was no one to supervise what was going on.  The people made their marginal decision valuing the freedom to do whatever they pleased more than they valued doing the morally correct thing.

            The eight guideposts to economic thinking do not just pertain to economic situations.  This podcast is one of those instances where the guideposts can pertain to things that go on in our everyday lives.  The guidepost that states individuals make decisions at the margin relates well to this podcast because it shows that people choose to act the morally or immorally based on the environment they are thrown in or the power that they are given.  Whichever alternative they value more leads to their decision and the way that they choose to act.  Therefore the eight guideposts to economic thinking are not just for economics, but also for psychological experiments and theatre as well.