Location of the study at a prestigious university provided authority
Participants assumed the experimenter knew what he was doing and had a worthy purpose, so should be followed
The participant didn't wish to disrupt the study because he felt under obligation to the experimenter due to his voluntary consent to take part
It was a novel situation for the participant, who therefore didn't know how to behave. If it had been possible to discuss the situation with others the participant might have behaved differently
The participant had very little time to resolve the conflict at 300 volts, and he didn't know that the victim would remain silent for the rest of the experiment
The participant assumed that the discomfort caused was minimal and temporary, and that the scientific gains were important
The conflict was between 2 deeply ingrained tendencies – not to harm someone, and to obey those whom we perceive to be legitimate authorities
