Milgram Obedience Experiment Essay

In each study the participant was give the role of ‘teacher’ and placed in a room with a ‘scientist’. The teacher was instructed to ask the learner (who was sitting in an adjacent room, and who along with the scientist where confederates in the experiment) a series of word associations, the teacher had to read the first word and the learner had to answer a matching word form a choice of four given by the teacher. They answered by pressing a corresponding switch on a unit in the room. The teacher was sat in front of a ‘shock generator’ a device which had 30 switches along the front which went up in 15 volt increments from 15volts to 450 volts. The labels above the switches described the shocks as ranging from ‘slight shock’ to ‘danger severe shock’ above 375 volts and the post powerful shock had XXX above it. In Milgram’s study the teacher was given a 45 volt shock to experience the sensation of being shocked and to show how the leaner would receive the shocks. In Burgers replication the teacher only received a 15 volt shock. In both cases the learner made the teacher and the experimenter aware that he had a minor heart

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 experimental study that I chose to write about is the Stanford Prison Experiment, which was run by Phillip Zimbardo. More than seventy applicants answered an ad looking for volunteers to participate in a study that tested the physiological effects of prison life. The volunteers were all given interviews and personality tests. The study was left with twenty-four male college students. For the experiment, eighteen volunteers took part, with the other volunteers being on call. The volunteers were then divided into two groups, guards and prisoners, randomly assigned by coin flips. The experiment began on August 14th, 1971 in the basement of Stanford’s psychology building. To create the prison cells for the prisoners, the doors were taken

The subjects of the experiment believed that they were taking part in a study on the relationship of learning and punishment. The subject would sit in a room and ask questions to an actor in another room, who was supposed to be another subject. In front of the questioner was a box that had a series of buttons labeled from 15 volts to 450 volts. The subject was told to shock the person every time they answered incorrectly, increasing the voltage each time. As the shocks got worse, the actor would make noise, bang on the wall, yell for help, etc. but the researcher would tell the subject to keep going. Milgrim found, contrary to many psychologists predictions, that sixty-five percent of the subjects delivered the shocks all the way up to 450 volts (Slater).

Compared to the Milgram Experiment, one could easily argue that the prisoners suffered from far more anxiety and trauma that the “teachers” who instituted electrical shocks. However, as one might hate as much to admit, but the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment outweigh the risks. Not only did it bring to light many natural tendencies and moral issues of human beings, but also that it was this experiment, along with the Milgram Experiment, the revolutionized the ethical guidelines of human experimentation. While these two experiments may be considered among the darkest experiments in the history of psychology, it is important to acknowledge what they have also brought to

This experiment was created to induce conflict within the subjects. Milgram achieved this by using a shock generator which appeared to be completely authentic, and had an authority figure command the subjects to

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Zimbardo in the summer of 1971 to study the behavior and the psychological effects of becoming a guard and a prisoner. This experiment was supposed to be a two-week experiment, but that was not the case it only ended after six days due to the difficulties and the stress that the guards and the prisoners were experiencing. The methodology behind this experiment was to get volunteers for the study by posting it in the local newspaper. People who were interested in taking a part in the study were screened beforehand for any medical issues and criminal background. 24 College students took a part in this study and they were being paid $15 for each day. After that, the students were divided up into two different groups guards and prisoners which were decided by a flip of a coin, they were put in a prison-like environment which was in the basement of the Psychology Department at the Stanford University.

The Milgram Experiment is one of the most famous studies in psychology. It was carried out by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist from Yale University. The purpose of the experiment was to study how far people would go in obeying an instruction from an authority figure if it involved hurting another person. Milgram wanted to study whether Germans were more obedient to authority as this was what people believed was the main reason for Nazi killings in World War II. 40 males were chosen to participate in the study, and were paid $4.50 for attending. The experiment was carried out as follows:

In Stanley Milgram’s article “The Perils of Obedience,” several people volunteer to participate in Milgram’s experiment. It consists of a learner and a teacher. When the learner fails to memorize a word pair, the teacher applies a shock to the learner. The shocks increase in severity with each wrong answer, attaining a maximum voltage of 450 volts. Milgram states many psychiatrists he interviewed before the experiment predicted most subjects would not go past 150 volts, or the point at which the learner starts to ask to leave (Milgram 80). In his first experiment, twenty-five out of forty subjects continued the experiment until the end (Milgram 80). After several more experiments at different locations, Milgram obtained the same results. Milgram

With each incorrect answer, the voltage of the electric shock would increase, beginning at a voltage of 15 volts to a deadly voltage of 450 volts. However, the experiment was most definitely rigged. The learners were hired actors used as part of the experiment to determine whether the teacher (one of the 40 male participants) would continue to obey the commands of the experimenter despite the blood chilling screams from the opposite room.  Milgram further explains in detail why the reasoning behind his experiment is surprisingly valid. The most important information of Milgram’s article provides a table recording the different variations of shock levels, beginning from slight shock to XXX. The different levels of shock voltages are measured from 15 volts to 450 volts. The right side of the table attributes to number of teachers who found the corresponding voltage as their maximum shock. A majority of the teachers did not identify a maximum shock until 300 volts was reached. At this point, various teachers discontinued the experiment and refused to participate further. However, Milgram states “of the 40 subjects, 26 obeyed the orders of the experimenter until the end, proceeding to punish the victim until they reached the most potent shock available on the shock generator”(376). Milgram’s data shows that 65 percent of the men chosen, decided to inflict the highest pain threshold upon

The last two switches on the board were simply characterized as XXX. Before the experiment begins, the teacher is subjected to a test shock of 45 volts to understand to an extent what the learner will be enduring. The experimenter assures both participants that though the shocks may be extremely painful, they are not dangerous. The teacher is instructed by the experimenter to begin at 15 volts and increase the intensity of the shocks after every incorrect answer. The actor was trained to exhibit various indicators of distress based on the voltage level at which they were being “shocked”. These distress signals included groaning, screaming, refusal to continue, indication of a heart problem, and lastly silence. Milgram was able to watch the experiment out-of-sight from another room. Though he had few expectations in terms of what to expect from the teachers, he wasn’t sure that anyone would administer 450 volts. What Milgram found was that the majority (approximately 65% of the subjects) went as far as to administer the maximum 450 volts. Even after expressing perceptible anxiety and a reluctance to continue, none of the subjects terminated prior to administering the 300-volt shocks. When individuals began to exhibit hesitation, the experimenter was to insist that the teacher continue, as it was of the utmost importance that they reach the end of the experiment. Out of the 40 individuals who took part, 26 of them completed

After each wrong question they were instructed to go higher on the voltage of shock. The learners would begin to scream and cry after so many shocks that high on the voltage so the teacher would look at the person in charge and the person would tell them to proceed on with the experiment. More then half of the subjects administered all thirty levels of shock. Milgram conclude that any of us would obey authority to harm

In the study of psychology the infamous Professor Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment is something anyone has taken a psychology course is familiar with. The experiment was done to show that “normal” people could in fact act in awful ways if under certain circumstances. This experiment required the study of young males. An ad was placed in the Palo Alto Times and soon 70 guys had responded to the ad. Of the 70, twelve were finally selected after going through a series of psychological tests. Nine of these individuals were arrested at their homes on the morning of August 17, 1971. The other three were assigned roles such as guards. After roles were assigned Zimbardo told the “officers” to keep the inmates under control without using

The two experiments were a tested at different time periods and for different purposes. For instance, the Milgram experiment was originally tested to study obedience to authority, in response to Adolf Eichmann trial, a Nazi war criminal, that stated he,” was just stating orders under the Reich.” The experiment proved to be that under authority rule, actions, even if morally wrong and unethical can be still taken forward with due to a strict authority presence.

(Brennan 2016). All the students surveyed believed that only a very small percentage of teachers would be prepared to inflict the maximum voltage. Milgram also informally surveyed his colleagues and found that they, too, believed very few participants would progress beyond a very strong shock. In Milgram's first set of experiments, 65% of the experiment participants gave the maximum 450-volt shock. Milgram however also noticed their behaviour. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment). Many were very uncomfortable administrating the shocks. At some point throughout the experiment, every participant stopped and questioned the experiment; some said they would refund the money they were paid for taking part in the experiment. Throughout the experiment, participants displayed varying degrees of anxious behaviour. Subjects were sweating, trembling, stuttering, biting their lips, groaning, digging their fingernails into their skin, and some were even having nervous laughing fits or seizures. (McLeod,