Overview
This lecture examines Stanley Milgram's famous obedience experiments, their design, findings, ethical controversies, and what they reveal about human behavior and authority.
Subject Selection and Participant Behavior
- Subjects were chosen based on responses to previous behavioral experiments (e.g., stealing or refusing to participate).
- Participants showed differing recovery times from stressful experiments, influencing their selection.
- Knowledge of the original Milgram experiment led some subjects to refuse participation.
Background and Purpose of Milgram's Experiment
- Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist, designed his experiment to study obedience to authority.
- Motivated by questions about how ordinary people could commit atrocities, such as those during Nazi Germany.
- The experiment explored under what conditions individuals obey commands that conflict with their conscience.
Experiment Setup and Procedure
- Conducted at Yale in 1962 with 40 male subjects aged 20–50.
- Participants believed they were administering electric shocks to another person for wrong answers in a learning test.
- The "learner" was an actor, and no real shocks were given; responses were pre-recorded and standardized.
- The shock generator had buttons labeled from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 volts (danger: severe shock).
Findings and Ethical Controversies
- Many participants complied with instructions despite apparent distress or objections from the learner.
- Participants exhibited visible stress and conflict when administering higher shocks.
- The experiment demonstrated the dark side of obedience but was criticized for causing psychological harm.
- Such experiments are now considered unethical and likely would not be approved today.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Obedience — following orders from an authority figure, even against one’s own conscience.
- Authority — a person or system wielding power to direct others’ actions.
- Confederate — an actor working with the experimenter, pretending to be a participant.
- Shock Generator — device used to simulate the administration of electric shocks in the experiment.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the ethical guidelines for psychological experiments.
- Prepare notes on the implications of Milgram's findings for current social psychology.
- Read further about other classic social psychology experiments on obedience and authority.