Theoretical Propositions …show more content…
The first priming effect occurred when the experimenter explained to each participant that there were conducting a study on “punishment of learning”, and made them “randomly” pick out of a hat to determine what role they would play in the study. However the drawings were rigged to infer that the true participants became the teacher and the accomplice was always the learner. Once the participant assumed their role the learner was taken into a room next door, and with the participant watching, he was then strapped to a chair with wired electrodes, which was connected to the shock generator in the next room with the teacher. Once the learner was attached instructions of the experiment followed. The main goal was having the learner memorize connections between various pairs of words. The teacher (who was the true participant) was first instructed to read off a list of word pairs to the learner. The learner was then instructed to memorize connections between each of these pairs. Once the teacher read off the words, the learner had to recite what word pairs belong together, and if they gave an incorrect answer the teacher has to deliver an electric shock. However the most important instruction given, was with each incorrect response the teacher had to move up one level of shock voltage on the