In the early 1960s, one of the most unethical experiments in psychology’s history was quietly conducted in a state hospital in Michigan. It sought to upend the delusions of the three patients involved, but ultimately disabused the experimenter of his own. Tune in to this classic episode to hear Josh and Chuck explore this disturbing project.
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# Summary
This episode digs into one of psychology's most ethically troubling experiments: Milton Rokeach's 1960s study of three hospital patients who each believed they were Jesus Christ. Rokeach theorized that confronting delusional patients with others holding identical delusions might shock them into reality, but what unfolds is a disturbing portrait of a researcher who exploits vulnerable men in a state mental institution, deliberately manipulating their beliefs and emotions to test his hypothesis. The episode traces how three distinct individuals—a sharp Canadian writer, an aging alcoholic, and a sympathetic young man who could have been helped—end up confined together in an experiment that makes their lives demonstrably worse, all in the name of groundbreaking science.
Awakenings
1990
2h 0m
★ 7.8
"It kind of reeked of like an awakenings kind of thing. I liked awakenings. I liked it. — Josh compares the sanitized feel of the Three Christs film to the movie Awakenings in terms of tone."
— Josh
Bohemian Rhapsody
2018
PG-13
2h 15m
★ 8.0
"I loved the fact that they made a movie about Freddie Mercury and the other members of Queen, but was it like in the um, in, in the movie? What was the name of that movie? The uh, the Queen movie. — Josh references Bohemian Rhapsody while comparing the filmmaking style to the Three Christs movie, asking if it had similar manipulation of viewer emotions."
— Josh
The Greatest Showman
2017
PG
1h 45m
★ 7.9
"it sounds like what you're describing is more along the lines of greatest showman, like that kind of sanitization — Chuck suggests the Three Christs movie had similar over-sanitization as The Greatest Showman."
— Chuck
"I told you I was watching The Shield again. That guy was amazing in that. Oh, was he in that? Yeah. Yeah, he played one of the main characters. — Josh mentions watching The Shield while discussing actor Walton Goggins who appeared in the Three Christs film."
— Josh
Three Christs
2017
R
1h 57m
★ 6.7
"when Hollywood made a movie about it four years ago, I was excited and even paid to rent that thing — Josh discusses watching the film adaptation of the Three Christs study and his disappointment with how it was sanitized."
— Josh
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