The other day I watched a documentary called, “The Push,” which asked the question, “Would you be able to be brought to a point to push someone off of a ledge?”
The documentary was done by Derren Brown, Britain’s “psychological illusionist,” who looked at whether or not people could be caught up into a lie to the point of killing someone.
The show began with a group experiment. Three actors were hired to sit in a television show’s selection group. Each time a bell rang they would stand up, then the next time it rang they would sit down. As regular people were added to the process those that followed the actors were kept, while those that continued to sit despite social pressures of standing up were asked to leave.
What’s interesting is that eventually the three actors leave and the regular people auditioning for Brown’s show – which is under the guise of something else – continue to stand up and sit down based on a ringing bell.
Five people were chosen of those, but all were told they did not make the show. However, it was orchestrated that they attend a fake charity event, one that would be full of actors pretending to be wealthy people looking to support the event.
In a series of twists and turns the individual finds themselves taking on the role of a man who seemingly had a heart attack and was now dead. As events roll out, the main actor encourages, makes suggestions, and persuades the regular individual to hide the body, move the body, and eventually stage an incident of falling down the stairs by kicking the body.
Eventually it’s discovered that the dead man wasn’t really dead, they had a condition, which made their pulse slow, become cold and white, and pass out. When the main actor and the person being manipulated go to explain to the board of the fake charity what happened… there’s no body at the bottom of the stairs.
They go up to the rooftop, where the regular person had met the wealthy man that they thought had died. The wealthy man verbally berates the individual then sits on the side of the building. The board of the fake charity begin to collude and to avoid losing out on the wealthy man’s donation, possible charges and jail time, as well as likely leading to the charity be shut down, the regular person is told to push the wealthy man off the edge of the roof.
It turns out, of the five that were chosen, four of them did push the man, while the fifth could not bring himself to do it.
Why?
Brown says that it is based in the psychological aspect of social compliance and that for some people their natural instinct to obey without question exists. That they could be pushed to a point of killing someone because they were simply told to.
It was an interesting watch as it brought into mind the hordes of people throughout history who have followed without much thought of questioning the status quo. So for those that followed Hitler, Stalin, or even those that follow smaller cult leaders like Charles Manson; how people can essentially be led to do unspeakable acts. They may even have qualms about them, but may very well follow through with it regardless.
