Lecture Notes: Stanley Milgram's Obedience Study

Introduction

• Conducted by Stanley Milgram at Yale University.
• Focused on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience.
• Motivated by the Nuremberg trials' defense of obedience during the Holocaust.

Purpose of the Experiment

• Investigate if those committing atrocities were simply following orders.
• Examine if Germans were particularly obedient, a common explanation for Nazi actions.

Experiment Design

• Participants: 40 males, aged 20-50, from varied occupations.
• Recruited through a newspaper advertisement for a learning study.
• Procedure:
  • Participants always assigned as "teacher".
  • Learner was an actor (Mr. Wallace) pretending to be a participant.
  • "Teachers" instructed to administer electric shocks for incorrect answers.
  • Shocks ranged from 15 volts to a lethal 450 volts.

Experiment Setup

• Two rooms: One for the learner with an electric chair, the other for the teacher and experimenter with a shock generator.
• Experimenter (in a grey lab coat) provided orders to continue the shocks despite learner's protests.

Orders and Prods

1. Please continue.
2. The experiment requires you to continue.
3. It is absolutely essential you continue.
4. You have no other choice but to continue.

Results

• 65% of participants continued to the maximum shock level of 450 volts.
• All participants continued to at least 300 volts.

Variations and Consistency

• Milgram conducted 18 variations of the study, all yielding similar results.

Milgram's Agency Theory

• Autonomous State: Individuals direct their own actions and take responsibility.
• Agentic State: Individuals let others direct their actions, passing responsibility to the authority.
• Conditions for Agentic State:
  1. Authority perceived as legitimate.
  2. Belief that the authority will accept responsibility for consequences.

Conclusion

• The study highlights the extent of obedience to authority under perceived legitimate conditions.

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Additional Notes

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