Milgram

• In Milgram's obedience experiment, subjects complied with an authority figure's orders to deliver electric shocks to another participant.
• Milgram's experiment was conducted to investigate the extent to which people would obey authority figures, even if it meant harming others.
• The results suggested that people may obey orders from authorities even when the orders contradict their own moral judgments.
• Milgram identified the agentic state, distance from harm, and legitimizing techniques as situational variables influencing obedience.
• They were instructed by a researcher (the "teacher") to administer electric shocks to another participant (the "learner"), who was actually an actor playing his role.
• They were instructed to administer electric shocks to another participant (actually a confederate) who gave incorrect answers during a word association test.
• Milgram found that most participants (65%) continued delivering shocks up to the highest level despite hearing screams and protests from the victim.
• The results showed that most participants were willing to follow orders despite feeling uncomfortable or guilty about their actions.
• Milgram's findings suggest that there are limits to human morality and that people may act against their conscience when faced with authority figures who demand compliance.
• Milgram's findings have been criticized due to concerns about deception and potential negative effects on participants.
• Others suggest that the experiment could have caused psychological distress or trauma to some participants who were unaware they were part of an experiment.
• Aim: 

  • to understand how the nazi soldiers followed orders to commit genocide towards millions of Jews in World War Two
  • To what extend will an ordinary person obey destructive orders from a legitimate authority figure. 
• Sample:

  • opportunity sample 
  • Done at Yale university 
  • 40 Americans of different backgrounds 
  • Male Skilled and unskilled workers
• Procedure

  • Experimenter chooses either learner or teacher role for confederate and participant making sure that confederate always gets learner and participant always gets teacher 
  • Participant thinks that confederate is another participant 
  • Confederate was in a separate room so that participant couldn’t visually observe the results of eliciting the electric shocks however participant watched confederate being strapped into electric chair and first electric shock being illicit making the experiment more convincing  
• Procedure

  • Experimenter instructs participant to ask questions to the learner if the learner gets question wrong participant is ordered to illicit electric shocks at a voltage of 15 increasing with each wrong answer until 400 volts
  • If participant requests to stop experimenter gave up to 3 scripted prompts allowing the participant to withdraw if they still want to leave
• Results:

  • 65% of participants obeyed up to the highest voltage even with verbal distress heard from the confederate in the other room and were experiencing high stress levels with 1 participant experiencing a stress induced seizure 
• Conclusion

  • The participants felt obligated to obey even though they were acting on destructive orders and experiencing distress