Power in Moral Events

Good deeds, even just thinking about helping others, have more willpower, more stamina and are sensitivity to discomfort, according to a new study out of Harvard. The same held true for people who perceived themselves as evil. Researchers call this the “moral transformation” effect because such deeds have the power to transform people from average to exceptional. They suggest helping others before being faced with temptation and that lending a helping hand may be a useful technique to regain control of your own life. Details are in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Stephen Goforth

Entitled

Do people consciously or unconsciously try to balance good and bad deeds? That’s the idea behind research at the University of Toronto. Students who chose green products were not as quick to behave nicely as those who didn’t make the environmental choice. Researchers say a decision that provides some degree of moral warmth make give the good-doer a mindset that they are entitled to a selfish act because they’ve already done their part. Details are in the journal Psychological Science.

Stephen Goforth

The Game of Death

Reality TV has taken dark turns but none more sobering than the Game of Death. Documentary film makers in France tricked 80 people into believing they were contestants on a game show in which they administered electric shocks to contestants. Echoing the famed experiments of psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, were told to "electrocute" a fellow contestant - actually an actor - if he got answers wrong while the audience chanted “punishment.” All but 16 of the volunteers punished the contestant until he appeared to die.

Is this a demonstration of the power of television? An indication that most people will submit to the commands of an authority figure no matter how evil (as with the Nazi death camps) in a fit of blind obedience? Or an example that contestants on what appears to be a reality TV show are savvy enough to assume the producers won’t really let someone die. So, they “play along” in a make-believe world of performance for the camera?

Here's a video about the experiment.