From: khelair@tinfoil.synchro.net.remove-iz7-this   
      
   Psychologists Have Uncovered a Troubling Feature of People Who Seem Nice All   
   the Time   
      
   June 20th, 2014   
      
   In 1961, curious about a person's willingness to obey an authority figure,   
   social psychologist Stanley Milgram began trials on his now-famous experiment.   
   In it, he tested how far a subject would go electrically shocking a stranger   
   (actually an actor faking the pain) simply because they were following orders.   
   Some subjects, Milgram found, would follow directives until the person was   
   dead.   
      
   **The news: **A new Milgram-like experiment published this month in the Journal   
   of Personality has taken this idea to the next step by trying to understand   
   which kinds of people are more or less willing to obey these kinds of orders.   
   What researchers discovered was surprising: Those who are described as   
   "agreeable, conscientious personalities" are more likely to follow orders and   
   deliver electric shocks that they believe can harm innocent people, while "more   
   contrarian, less agreeable personalities" are more likely to refuse to hurt   
   others.   
      
   **The methodology and findings: **For an eight-month period, the researchers   
   interviewed the study participants to gauge their social personality, as well   
   as their personal history and political leanings. When they matched this data   
   to the participants' behavior during the experiment, a distinct pattern   
   emerged: People who were normally friendly followed orders because they didn't   
   want to upset others, while those who were described as unfriendly stuck up for   
   themselves.   
      
   "The irony is that a personality disposition normally seen as antisocial —   
   disagreeableness — may actually be linked to 'pro-social' behavior,'" writes   
   Psychology Today's Kenneth Worthy. "This connection seems to arise from a   
   willingness to sacrifice one's popularity a bit to act in a moral and just way   
   toward other people, animals or the environment at large. Popularity, in the   
   end, may be more a sign of social graces and perhaps a desire to fit in than   
   any kind of moral superiority."   
      
   The study also found that people holding left-wing political views were less   
   willing to hurt others. One particular group held steady and refused   
   destructive orders: "women who had previously participated in rebellious   
   political activism such as strikes or occupying a factory."   
      
   **The Nazi effect: **The findings lend themselves even further to Milgram's   
   original goal in the '60s: trying to understand the rise of Nazism. Milgram   
   began his experiments in July 1961, three months after the start of the trial   
   of German Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. He believed his findings might help   
   explain how seemingly nice people can do horrible things if they are ordered to   
   do so.   
      
   Does that mean the Nazis were just nice people trying to follow orders and be   
   polite? You probably wouldn't want to go that far, but suffice to say, it turns   
   out nice people just want to appease authorities, while rebels stick to their   
   guns.   
      
   reshared from 'Grim Enigma'   
      
   -=-=-=-   
   in order to access the hyperlinks to various sources and reports in the   
   preceeding article, please refer to the original article at:   
   http://mic.com/articles/92479/psychologists-have-uncovered-a-troubling-feature-   
   of-people-who-seem-nice-all-the-time   
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