The Milgram Experiment Essay

This was definitely true in Milgram’s experiment because at first the participants were 40 males between the ages of 20 and 50 (Hock, 2012). Then in later replicated experiments that Milgram created, he changed some of the factors like adding woman and different situations for the teacher to be in contact with the learner. All of Milgram and Burger’s experiments were helpful into understanding why people are so willing to obey authority

The Milgram experiment was conducted in 1963 by Stanley Milgram in order to focus on the conflict between obedience to authority and to personal conscience. The experiment consisted of 40 males, aged between 20 and 50, and who’s jobs ranged from unskilled to professional. The roles of this experiment included a learner, teacher, and researcher. The participant was deemed the teacher and was in the same room as the researcher. The learner, who was also a paid actor, was put into the next room and strapped into an electric chair. The teacher administered a test to the learner, and for each question that was incorrect, the learner was to receive an electric shock by the teacher, increasing the level of shock each time. The shock generator ranged from

Milgram was interested on learning if people would hurt someone if given instructions to do so, Stanley Milgram recruited 40 males, ages ranging between 20 and 50 with jobs varying from unemployed to professionals. The participants drew straws to determine their positions (Learner or Teacher) although this was rigged so an actor was chosen as the learner every time and the volunteer as the teacher. As the learner got a question wrong the teacher would administer a shock, each wrong question the intensity of

The two studies being analyzed today are the Stanly Milgram experiment and the Slater experiment. The two similar experiments yielded information about obedience to authority that explains the correlation in society between authority, obedience, and morality. Despite the major ethical problems in the Milgram experiment, it is known in social psychology today that human beings will follow orders from authority figures even to the extent of inflicting harm on another. However, even with this fact, it is also known that there is limits to such obedience.

Stanley Milgram is a famous psychologist who focused his studies on authority and peoples reaction and obedience to it. His famous experiment and it's results were groundbreaking in psychology, surprising both psychologists and regular people alike. First I will discuss the reason for Milgrims study of obedience to authority. Then I will explain the experiment, its formulation, and its results. Finally I will cover the influence of the experiment on psychology and society.

Prior the experiment, Milgram polled fourteen Yale University psychology major seniors to predict the behaviour out of a

Could we call them all accomplices?" The basis for the experiment was to better understand the reasons why the Nazis acted the way they did and why disobedience is such a difficult concept for humans to accept. Milgram believed humans are wired to think they are not to blame when an authority figure orders them to act upon a given deed (Milgram 85). He compares the actions of the test subjects to those of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official responsible for implementing Hitler’s “Final Solution” (Milgram 85). Eichmann was the official who gave the orders to the soldiers beneath him; those receiving the orders to kill did not feel responsible since they were fulfilling an obligation to their superior. “Conformity within a group entails members changing their attitudes and beliefs in order to match those of others within the group.” These words from the Miami University, Ohio clearly exemplify the idea behind the Nazis mindset. The soldiers did not believe they were wrong simply because of the orders they were given. Baumrind would argue against this issue based on Milgram’s idea of comparing the test subjects to the Nazis; she believes the reason is unclear and should not be a viable link in the experiment (Baumrind 93). During the assessment, the subjects felt concerned about their victims; however, the Nazis felt no remorse while killing the Jews during the Holocaust. When Eichmann was questioned before his execution, he stated, “To be frank with you, had we killed all of them, I would be happy and say, 'All right, we managed to destroy an enemy” (“Adolf Eichmann”). This reason is why Baumrind believes no fair reason exists for comparing the two ideas (Baumrind 93). The views of Baumrind over the two subjects is logical in thought; however, Milgram clearly is only considering the Nazis view on the reason for their obedience in the comparison, not the environment of

There is a vast amount of research that continues to prove the importance of situational factors in determining human behavior. One of the most profound experiments that helped to prove situational importance was the study conducted by Stanley Milgram. In his article, “The Perils of Obedience,” Stanley Milgram summarized his experiments on the effects of obedience to authority, even when the authority commanded the subject to harm another person.

Stanley Milgram, in his essay, “The Perils of Obedience,” argues that ordinary humans can be destructive instruments when they obey authority. For example, the Nazis guards were following orders when they were committing genocidal acts. “Obedience,” written by Ian Parker, leads one to believe that people have different degrees of obedience under different situational factors. Parker partially agrees with Milgram on human obedience and how it can cause problems.

In 1974 Stanley Milgram conducted the classic study of obedience to authority. The study looked into how far individuals would be willing to go, and were asked could they deliver increasingly devastating electric shocks to a fellow human being, as they were requested to do so by the professor in charge of the experiment.

The Milgram experiment was set up to see the obedience and willingness of people through giving others pain. Milgram put out an ad in the paper asking people to participate in the experiment to receive a $5 reward. Each person who participated was asked to be the teacher and one of Milgrams students was always the student. The idea of the test was that the teacher had to read a set of words and if the student got the set of words incorrect then they would be shocked. Each time they got it wrong the shock would get stronger.

Before Milgram’s findings, the fact that people were inclined to obey to authority figures was already realized. He just confirmed this belief. Milgram followed effective steps by using precise procedures. He made sure that the experiment reflected features of an actual situation in which a person would obey to an authority figure: offering compensation (monetary reward in this experiment), being under pressure (Prods 1 to 4 in this case), and mentioning that the person who obeys can withdraw. These features can also be seen in a situation where a soldier is commanded to fire, for instance. A soldier will get a monetary compensation, is under pressure to obey because he chose to be part of the military, and he knows that he can resign at any time. Milgram created an experiment so precise and detailed that more than enough evidence was demonstrated.

Human beings are social species and from an early stage of their life they are trained to follow orders from an authority figure. Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. Milgram was trying to show that people are more likely to obey orders when it comes from a higher authority figure even when it involves many immoral acts. The experiment involve a teacher who will give electric shock to a learner when he gives wrong answer. 65 percent of participants continued to give maximum amount of electric shock to the learner even after hearing them crying for help.

Stanley Milgram, a famous social psychologist, and student of Solomon Asch, conducted a controversial experiment in 1961, investigating obedience to authority (1974). The experiment was held to see if a subject would do something an authority figure tells them, even if it conflicts with their personal beliefs and morals. He even once said, "The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act (Cherry).” This essay will go over what Milgram’s intent was in this experiment and what it really did for society.

The Milgram experiment is probably one of the most well-known experiments of the psy-sciences. (De Vos, J. (2009). Stanley Milgram was a psychologist from Yale University. He conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. Milgram wanted to investigate whether Germans were particularly obedient to authority figures as this was a common explanation for the Nazi killings in World War II. Milgram selected people for his experiment by newspaper advertising. He looked for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale University.