Factors Leading To The Making Of A Torturer
...ing of a torturer in a way that they are easily manipulated into performing the act as they tend to get anxious and insecure when events or circumstances modify or upset their previously existing world view. While a torturer might be a result of a social construction, studies were made into the willingness of people to inflict pain upon others. It is common for torturers to justify their actions as merely the carrying out of orders (O’Byrne 2003 p.182). An Example of this would be the torturing of the Iraqi soldiers by American soldiers in the Iraq war. One sociological explanation that sought to explain the understanding of a torturer is that although the subject performs the action, he/she allows authority to define its meaning (Milgram 1974a, p.48). This is justified by an experiment that Milgram undertook in the 1970’s to justify this problem. Milgram answered the call to this issue by performing a series of studies on obedience to authority. Typically, two individuals show up for a study and are taken to a room where one is strapped in a chair to prevent movement and an electrode is placed on his arm. Next, the other person who is called the "teacher" is taken to another joint room where he is told to read a list of two word pairs and ask the "learner" to read them back. If the "learner" gets the answer right, then they move on to the next word. If the answer is wrong, the "teacher" is supposed to shock the "learner" starting at 15 volts and going up to 450 volts, in 15 volt differences. The "teacher" automatically is supposed to increase the shock each time the "learner" misses a word in the list. Although the "teachers" thought that they were administering shocks to the "learners", the "learners" were actually accomplices of the scientists who were never actually harmed. The theory that only those on the lower class of society would submit to such cruelty is discharged. Findings show that, "two-thirds of this study participants fall into the category of ‘obedient' subjects, and that they represent ordinary people drawn from the working, and professional classes". Ultimately 65% of all of the "teachers" punished the "learners" to the maximum 450 volts. (Milgram, 1974). Milgram suggested that the people who shocked the victim did so out of obligation and not because of their aggressive tendencies and such (Milgram 1974 cited O’Byrne 2003, p.183). This theory of behavior explains how a torturer is brought about and the obligations of which are felt and the excuse to continue on with the act, therefore a torturer is made by this conception of duties as a subject. The Theory Of cognitive dissonance suggests that there is a tendency in indivi...