Before Stanley Milgram conducted his research, most psychologists agreed that few people would be willing to inflict extraordinary pain and suffering on another person simply because they were obeying orders. Milgram designed his experiment specifically to determine whether or not this widespread assumption was true.

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Stanley Milgram, an American social psychologist, conducted a famous and controversial study on obedience to authority. Following the Holocaust and the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Milgram investigated the defense of 'following orders' by demonstrating that nearly two-thirds of his participants were willing to deliver what they believed to be lethal shocks to another person simply because an authority figure instructed them to do so.

Stanley Milgram's Obedience Study

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Stanley Milgram's obedience study, alongside others that involved deception and potential emotional harm, catalyzed the development of strict ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research. These guidelines discourage the use of deception unless it can be argued not to cause harm, and they universally require researchers to obtain the informed consent of participants.

Ethical Impact of Milgram's Obedience Study

Expectations Prior to Milgram's Experiment

In Stanley Milgram's obedience study, participants received payment for simply showing up. Despite having the option to withdraw from the study to avoid inflicting pain on another person, nearly two-thirds of the participants chose to deliver what they believed were lethal shocks simply because they were instructed to do so by an authority figure.

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