Milgram

• Obedience is an indispensable part of social life
• The issue of obedience was particularly relevant after the Second World War
• Explanations were sought for the inhumane obedience of Germans who systematically slaughtered millions of innocent people during the Second World War
• 'Germans are different' hypothesis


  The belief that Germans are by disposition much more obedient than people from other cultures/countries
• Milgram intended to conduct this study with Germans but first wanted to run a pilot study
• Milgram did not expect high levels of obedience from Americans
• Methodology of the study

  • Controlled observation in a laboratory
  • Self-reported variable
• Milgram called it an experiment but researchers argue it is not an experiment because there was no independent variable
• A final group of 40 participants were selected from the 500 who volunteered
• The sample consisted of 40 men from various occupational and educational backgrounds
• It is a self-selected sample
• A biology teacher, dressed in a technician's coat, played the part of the experimenter
• The learner (or victim) was played by a 47-year-old actor, trained for the role
• Both the experimenter and the learner were confederates of Milgram
• A shock generator was used
• The study took place in a laboratory at Yale University
• Each participant was told that the study aimed to see how punishment affected learning
• The true aim of the study was withheld
• The naïve volunteer participant was introduced to the other participant (the confederate)
• Lots were drawn for the parts of teacher and learner
• The naïve 'true' participant always got the part of teacher
• The learner was strapped into an 'electric chair apparatus'
• An electrode was attached to the learner's wrist and connected to a shock generator in the next room
• The experimenter advised them that no tissue damage would be caused by the shocks
• The teacher experienced a test shock of 45 volts
• The teacher read questions out to the learner
• If the teacher expressed a desire to stop delivering shocks, the experimenter had a set of statements (prods) to deliver
• When the shock level reached 300 volts, the learner had been instructed to pound on the wall
• This pounding on the wall was repeated again at 315 volts and after that the learner stopped responding
• The study demonstrated the power of the situation in obedience, rather than dispositional factors
• A significant number of participants were disobedient
• All 40 participants (100%) continued giving shocks up to 300 volts
• Five participants (12.5%) stopped at this critical point of 300 volts
• Nine more participants stopped between 315 and 375 volts
• Participants who stopped between 315 and 375 volts


  • Four stopped at 315 volts
  • Two at 330 volts
  • One at 345 volts
  • One at 360 volts
  • One at 375 volts
• 26 out of 40 participants (65%) continued to the end (450 volts) and were considered obedient
• 14 out of 40 participants were disobedient because at some point they disobeyed the orders
• Many participants showed signs of nervousness
• Signs of nervousness shown by participants

  • Sweat
  • Tremble
  • Stutter
  • Bite their lips
  • Groan
  • Dig their fingernails
• Full-blown uncontrollable seizures were observed for three participants