This little box has some sorted history behind it. This "Shock Generator" was used in an experiment in the 1950's to test peoples willingness to obey orders. This was around the same time the German soldiers claimed they were "Just following orders" back in WW2.
This box was hooked up to a student with electrodes. A "teacher" would read questions to the "student" and if the student got the answer wrong, the "teacher" would shock him with a steadily increasing jolt. It started with a mild 10 volt shock, then moved up to a deadly 450 volts. What the "teacher" that was administering the test didn't know, was that the "student" was an actor and was not actually given any shocks. The test was to see if a person in authority would give a person a lethal shock just because he was told to. The result: Nearly half of the subjects offered the deadly 450 volts, even when he could hear the 'student' screaming in agony in the other room.
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