Summary: Echoing the infamous Milgram experiment from the 1960s, this ABC News program sets up a psychological test in which an authority figure urges men and women to inflict pain. Test administrator and social psychologist Dr. Jerry Burger interprets the disturbing findings. The program also analyzes the 1971 Stanford prison experiment as well as the 2004 hoax in which a McDonald's manager and her...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Who should have access to our thoughts, and to what degree? This program presents some of the current scientific research on the thought processes of the human brain, with special attention paid to its clinical applications and its ethical implications. German philosophers Thomas Metzinger and John-Dylan Haynes explain neuroethics, or the social, legal, and ethical repercussions of brain...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Examining the use of torture over the past half-century, this program describes its horrific application in military and political settings and explores its profound human cost. Featuring interviews with confessed practitioners of the gruesome craft, the program exposes interrogation methods developed and carried out by French army officers against Algerian independence fighters, by British...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Like it or not, humans are adept at the art of lying. Drawing upon the fields of psychology, sociology, technology, philosophy, and criminology, this program sheds light on the complex realities of untruthfulness through the work of researchers who have made lying a subject of profound study: Professor Bella DePaulo, an expert on the communication of deception; Professor Maureen O'Sullivan, an...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Many who followed the Terri Schiavo case struggled to make sense of the flurry of opinions it generated. This NewsHour program, recorded during the last days of Terri Shiavo's life, presents two opposing yet thoroughly reasoned perspectives on the issues. Beth Israel Medical Center neurologist Dr. Russell Portenov explains the medical justification for removing the feeding tube, while Dr....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: A respected source of balanced, first-rate journalism, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer raises urgent and challenging questions whenever it covers the healthcare field. This anthology of NewsHour segments confronts ethical dilemmas and complex issues in medicine today. Through in-depth reporting and interviews with doctors, nurses, patients, and other experts, the anthology examines case studies,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: The Selfish Gene is frequently misread as a biological justification for ruthless behavior. In this classic program, author Richard Dawkins sets the record straight through an exploration of selfishness and enlightened self-interest built upon evidence from the Prisoner's Dilemma game and real-world non-zero-sum social situations. "The tragedy of the commons," symbiotic behavior among animals,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Javal Davis was imprisoned for assaulting inmates at Abu Ghraib, but insists he is not a torturer. His fellow MP Ken Davis was never implicated, having reported the abuse to superiors. This program presents in-depth interviews with both men, detailing their side of the story and conveying their disillusionment with Pentagon officials who wanted interrogations pushed "up a notch." Featuring...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: It can lead to isolation, to depression, even to violence. In this program, psychologist John Marsden investigates the devastating effect that social and romantic rejection can have on the brain, the body, and human behavior. Using the latest neuro-imaging technology, Dr. Marsden examines the links between unrequited love and physical pain; he also sheds light on why crimes of passion and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Psychological experiments have shown that the natural human desire to conform can lead people to mistrust their own experiences, turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, and even inflict harm on the defenseless. But these findings have come at a price: the potential emotional damage of those being studied. This three-section program grapples with some of the thorny ethical issues arising...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Do most people get their values from their parents or from society at large? At what age, and with what tools, do children begin to work out what is right and wrong? Can young children distinguish between actions that are morally deviant and those that simply violate a social convention? This program explores those questions by observing a group of 25 six-year-olds and the varying levels of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: What drives the desire to behave morally? In this TEDTalk, neuroeconomist Paul Zak discusses why he believes oxytocin - he calls it “the moral molecule” - is responsible for trust, empathy, and other feelings that help build a stable society. A pioneer in the field of neuroeconomics, Zak seeks to understand how the hormone promotes social bonding, and shares with the audience the unorthodox...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011