Stanley Milgram changed our understanding of human obedience when he published 'Behavioral study of obedience' in 1963. The majority of people are capable of causing extreme harm to others when told to do so by a figure of authority. The experiments showed that people are prepared to do or say things that conflict with their own beliefs.
The Milgram Experiment: How it Works
An investigation took place, of how obedient ordinary people would be when told by authority to sent electric shocks to another person. The experiment took place in a laboratory at Yale University in 1961. The participants were recruited through a newspaper advertisement, with a total of 40 people selected.
Milgram had created a phony electric shock generater, that had 30 switches marked in 15-volt increments.
Labels of "slight shock" at one end, to "extreme intensity shock", "danger: severe shock"
and finally "XXX" at the other. A biology teacher introduced himself to the participants as
Jack Williams. In order to give the impression of authority, he was dressed in a grey laboratory technician's coat with an emotionless demeanour throughout each of the
experiments. Mr Wallace had been trained to play the role of the victom (learner), and the participents as the teacher. Mr wallace was in each case a phony in getting electrocuted. They played a game, and in each the draw was always rigged so that Mr Wallace took on the role of "learner" in every instance. Mr Wallace was strapped into an "electric chair", in full view of the participants.
Part two contains the following
· Applying the Shocks
· Decisions Made in Percentage
· Feeling Obliged to Obey
· Society Demands Obedience
& more.