It would be good to add (1958) to the title -- I doubt such an experiment would fly today, and this presents a fascinating look back in history both at the state of experimental ethics and the development of modern refrigerator doors. The only experience I have with fridges so old is the one that my grandfather rotated 90 degrees and buried in his yard, to serve as a root cellar. I think the door may have had an actu…
Aren't fridges pretty airtight though? Isn't that the whole point here? If so, then crying loud and long is at best a hell of a bet. I'd be willing to bet that fridges are pretty good sound insulators. The inside is sort of suspended IIRC.
Airtight does not imply soundproof. Well-insulated is better correlated, and fridges do tend to be that as well.
I was thinking more along the lines of screaming being a great way to use up all your oxygen. That too is an assumption though...
Aren't fridges pretty airtight though? Isn't that the whole point here? If so, then crying loud and long is at best a hell of a bet. I'd be willing to bet that fridges are pretty good sound insulators. The inside is sort of suspended IIRC.
Put a microphone inside and outside the fridge. If the noise coming from inside the fridge is louder than the noise from outside the fridge, pop the hatch automatically. Not a viable solution for 1958x but today we are talking about a few dollars in electronics and an electromagnet.
I know the upvote is for this, but can I just say that that's a brilliant idea!
a higher rate of success being associated with fewer years of education attained by mother and father combined. Tell me more - is that statistically significant? Causes? Related to Reading age? The bit that worries me is the percentage of children who locked in the fridge just waited and cried.
Pure speculation: could be that poor kids were more likely to have dealt with similar problems or even just to have dealt with similar levels of suffering, and therefore respond with a little more short-term resilience.
Not like anyone can do follow-ups on this research any more.
It would be good to add (1958) to the title -- I doubt such an experiment would fly today, and this presents a fascinating look back in history both at the state of experimental ethics and the development of modern refrigerator doors. The only experience I have with fridges so old is the one that my grandfather rotated 90 degrees and buried in his yard, to serve as a root cellar. I think the door may have had an actu…
There were a frightening number of children that were trapped in the old refrigerators. They often used them as hiding places and could not get out until they were redesined They had latches and even when there were interior releases it was not obvious to a child how to open it when in the dark and with limited leverage.
Even knowing a study like this would save lives I would find it hard to see it getting approved by modern ethics committees. It really says a lot about how our society has changes as anything. The society is much less Unitarian in its ethics simply sounding suspect is enough to get rejected.
Pretty disgusting, maybe we should drown them and burn them also to see how they react.
Someone was trying to solve a real problem in 1958. In fact, children still die in refrigerators. I imagine in 54 years, people will look back at some of the stuff we do as primitive and barbaric.