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READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Question 20-22, which are basé on Reading Psssage 2 below
Nature or Nurture?
A
A few years ago, in one of the most fascinating and disturbing experiments in behavioural psychology, Stanley Milgram of Yale University tested 40 subjects from all walks of life for their willingness to obey instructions given by a ‘leader’ in a situation in which the subjects might feel a personal distaste for the actions they were a called upon to perform. Specifically, Milgram told each volunteer ‘teach-subject’ that the experiment was in the noble cause of education, and was designed to test whether or not punishing pupils for their mistakes would have a positive effect on the pupil’s ability to learn
B
Milgram’s experimental set-up involved placing the teacher-subject before a panel of thirty switches with labels ranging from ’15 volts of electricity (slight shock) to ‘450 volts (danger – severe shock) in steps of 15 volts each. The teacher-subject was told that whenever the pupil gave the wrong answer to a question, a shock was to be administered, beginning at the lowest level and increasing in severity with each successive wrong answer. The supposed ‘pupil’ was, in reality, an actor hired by Milgram to simulate receiving the shocks by emitting a spectrum of groans, screams and writhings together with an assortment of the statements and expletives denouncing both the experiment and the experimenter. Milgram told the teacher-subject to ignore the reactions of the pupil, and to administer whatever level of shock was called for, as per the rule governing the experimental situation of the moment
C
As the experiment unfolded, the pupil would deliberately give the wrong answers to questions posed by the teacher, thereby bringing on various electrical punishments, even up to the danger level of 300 volts and beyond. Many of the teacher-subject baulked at administering the higher levels of punishment, and turned to Milgram with questioning looks and/or complaints about continuing the experiment. In these situations, Milgram calmly explained that the teacher-subject was to ignore the pupil’s cries for mercy and carry on with the experiment. If the subject was still reluctant to proceed, Milgram said that is was important for the sake of the experiment that the procedure be followed through to the end. His final argument was, ‘’You have no other choice. You must go on’. What Milgram was trying to discover was the number of teacher-subjects who would be willing to administer the highest levels of shock, even in the face of the strong personal and moral revulsion against the rules and conditions of the experiment
D
Prior the carrying out the experiment, Milgram explained his idea to a group of 39 psychiatrists and asked them to predict the average percentage of people in an ordinary population who would be willing to administer the highest shock level of 450 volts. The overwhelming consensus was that virtually all the teacher-subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter. The psychiatrists felt that ‘most subjects would not go beyond 150 volts’ and they further anticipated that only four per cent would go up to 300 volts. Furthermore, they thought that only a lunatic fringe of about one in 1,000 would give the highest shock of 450 volts
E
what were the actual results? Well, over 60 per cent of the teacher-subjects continued to obey Milgram up to the 450-volt limit. In repetitions of the experiment in other countries, the percentage of the obedient teacher-subjects was even higher, reaching 85 per cent in one country. How can we possibly account for this vast discrepancy between what calm, rational, knowledgeable people predict in the comfort of their study and what pressured, flustered, but cooperative ‘teachers’ actually do in the laboratory of real life?
F
One’s first inclination might be to argue that there must be some sort of built-in animal aggression instinct that was activated by the experiment, and that Milgram’s teacher-subjects were just following a genetic need to discharge this pent-up primal urge onto the pupil by administering the electrical shock. A modern hard-core sociobiologist might even go so far as to claim that this aggressive instinct evolved as an advantageous trait, having been of survival value to our ancestors in their struggle against the hardships of the life on the plains and the caves, ultimately finding its way into our genetic make-up as a remnant of our ancient animal ways
G
An alternative to this notion of genetic programming is to see the teacher-subjects’ actions as a result of the social environment under which the experiment was carried out. As Milgram himself pointed out ‘ Most subjects in the experiment see their behaviour in a larger context that is benevolent and useful to society – the pursuit of scientific truth. The psychological laboratory has a strong claim to legitimacy and evokes trust and confidence in those who perform there. An action such as shocking a victim, which in isolation appears evil, acquires a completely different meaning when placed in this setting
H
Thus, in this explanation the subject merges his unique personality and personal and moral code with that of larger institutional structures, surrendering individual properties like loyalty, self-sacrifice and discipline to the service of malevolent systems of authority
I
Here we have two radically different explanations for why so many teacher-subjects were willing to forgo their sense of personal responsibility for the sake of an institutional authority figure. The problem for biologists, psychologists and anthropologist is to sort out which of these two polar explanations is more plausible. This, in essence, is the problem of modern sociobiology – to discover the degree to which hard-wired genetic programming dictates, or at least strongly biases, the interaction of animals and humans with their environment, that is, their behaviour. Put another way, sociobiology is concerned with elucidating the biological basis of all behaviour
Questions 20-22
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D
Write your answers in boxes 20-22 on your answer sheet
20 The teacher-subjects were told that they were testing whether
A a 450-volt shock was dangerous.
B punishment helps learning.
C the pupils were honest.
D they were suited to teaching
21 The teacher-subjects were instructed to
A stop when a pupil asked them to
B denounce pupils who made mistakes
C reduce the shock level after a correct answer
D give punishment according to a rule
22 Before the experiment took place the psychiatrists
A believed that a shock of 150 volts was too dangerous
B failed to agree on how the teacher-subjects would respond to instructions
C underestimated the teacher-subjects’ willingness to comply with experimental procedure
D thought that many of the teacher-subjects would administer a shock of 450 volts
Nguồn: Cambridge IELTS 5
Đáp án:
20 B
21 D
22 C
Giải thích:
20: Đầu tiên bạn hãy gạch chân những key words trong câu hỏi gồm các từ : ‘’ teacher-subjects’’ ; ‘’ were testing’’ và hiểu được câu hỏi muốn hỏi bạn gì :’’ Những giáo viên mẫu được bảo làm kiểm tra liệu….?’’. Thì lúc này bạn sẽ Skim nhanh bài đọc thì phát hiện được nội dung đáp án sẽ ở đoạn A. Được paraphrase dưới câu ‘’ Specifically, Milgram told each volunteer ‘teach-subject’ that the experiment was in the boble cause of education, and was designed to test whether or not punishing pupils for their mistakes would have a positive effect on the pupil’s ability to learn’’ –‘’Liệu không phạt học sinh vì lỗi của họ có ảnh hưởng tích cực lên khả năng học tập của học sinh’’ . Đáp án A sai vì đưa thông tin sai : họ không kiểm tra điện 450V có nguy hiểm hay không. Đáp án C và D sai vì thông tin không có trong bài, đưa ra để đánh lạc hướng → Đáp án là B
21: Bạn có thể dễ tìm thấy thông tin chứa đáp án ở đoạn B trong bài. Đáp án A sai vì đưa ra thông tin trái ngược ‘’ Milgram told the teacher-subject to ignore the reactions of the pupil’’ không để ý quan tâm đến biểu cảm của học sinh trong khi đáp án là ‘’ stop when a pupil asked them to’’. Đáp án B và C không có thông tin trong bài → Đáp án là D
22: Đây là một câu đòi hỏi người làm đọc rất kỹ cả question statement và cả paragraph. Các bạn có thể tìm thấy thông tin câu trả lời ở đoạn D. ‘’ The overwhelming consensus was that virtually all the teacher-subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter’’ – ‘’Một sự nhất trí vô cùng lớn cho rằng hầu như các giáo viên thử nghiệm sẽ từ chối nghe theo người đưa ra thí nghiệm này’’→ Đáp án là C
‘’underestimated the teacher-subjects’ willingness to comply with experimental procedure’’ –‘’Đánh giá thấp sự tự nguyện của các giáo viên thử nghiệm trong việc làm theo các bước của thí nghiệm’’
Highlight Vocabs:
Disturbing (adj) /dɪˈstɜːbɪŋ/: making you feel anxious and upset or shocked : làm lo lắng, gây lo lắng
Denounce (v) /dɪˈnaʊns/: to strongly criticize somebody/something that you think is wrong, illegal, etc.: tố cáo
Psychiatrist (n) /saɪˈkaɪətrɪst/: a doctor who studies and treats mental illnesses: nhà tâm thần học
revulsion against /rɪˈvʌlʃn/: a strong feeling of horror: sự ghê sợ trước cái gì đó…
malevolent (adj) /məˈlevələnt/: having or showing a desire to harm other people: nham hiểm
Radically (adv) /ˈrædɪkli/: in a way that relates to the most basic and important parts of something; in a complete and detailed way: về căn bản, tận gốc
Thus (adv) /ðʌs/ in this way; like this: vì thế, vì vậy
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