A central question in social psychology, highlighted by the Milgram experiment, is understanding the psychological factors that compel individuals to obey an authority figure, even when the commands involve causing serious harm to another person.

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The Milgram experiment is a famous psychological study that investigated obedience to authority, wherein participants believed they were administering lethal electric shocks to another person. The study is a prominent example of active deception in research, as it utilized phony equipment (a fake shock generator) and confederates to mislead participants. While the deception resulted in severe psychological stress for participants, it demonstrated that some socially important research questions are difficult to answer without deceiving subjects.

Milgram experiment

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

What was the primary finding of Stanley Milgram's experiment on obedience?

What historical context motivated Stanley Milgram to conduct his experiment on obedience?

What ethical concerns were raised by Stanley Milgram's experiment on obedience?

What was the main purpose of Stanley Milgram's experiment on obedience?

Stanley Milgram utilized a public newspaper advertisement to recruit participants for his famous obedience experiment, deceptively framing the study as a 'scientific study of memory and learning' at Yale University. The ad offered \$4.00 (plus 50 cents for carfare) for approximately one hour of participation, emphasizing that no special training was needed and explicitly excluding high school and college students. It targeted 500 New Haven men aged 20 to 50 from various professions, such as laborers, businessmen, and factory workers, instructing interested individuals to mail a coupon to Milgram with their personal details and availability.

Milgram Experiment Recruitment Advertisement

Stanley Milgram's research on obedience was directly inspired by the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking Nazi official. Eichmann's defense for his role in the Holocaust was that he was 'just following orders.' This claim prompted Milgram, a social psychology professor at Yale, to design an experiment to scientifically investigate the extent to which individuals would obey authority figures, even when instructed to perform morally questionable acts.

Influence of the Eichmann Trial on Milgram's Research

The methodology of Milgram's experiment involved deceiving volunteers into thinking they were in a study on learning. Participants, in the role of 'teacher,' were instructed to administer escalating electric shocks (up to 450 volts) to a 'learner' for incorrect answers. A key part of the procedure was the learner, a confederate, acting out a script of increasing distress, which included crying for help, begging the teacher to stop, and complaining of heart trouble. The central deception was that no actual shocks were administered.

Methodology of the Milgram Experiment

The Problem of Destructive Obedience

The results of the Milgram experiment show a progressive decrease in obedience as the instructed shock intensity increased. While nearly all participants administered shocks in the 'slight to moderate' range (15–135 volts), the percentage dropped to approximately 80% for 'strong to very strong' shocks (135–255 volts). A further decline was observed at the 'intense to extremely intense' level (255–375 volts), where about 65% of participants continued. Notably, this rate of obedience stabilized, with roughly 65% of individuals proceeding to deliver the highest levels of shock, from 'severe' (375–435 volts) up to the maximum 450 volts.

Milgram Experiment Results by Shock Level

To explore the limits of obedience, Stanley Milgram conducted several variations of his original experiment. These modifications involved altering specific situational factors to observe their impact on participants' willingness to continue administering shocks.

Variations of the Milgram Experiment

The findings from Stanley Milgram's obedience studies remain highly applicable in modern contexts, raising critical questions about an individual's response to directives from an authority figure, particularly when those orders conflict with personal beliefs or ethical standards.

Contemporary Relevance of the Milgram Experiment

A research confederate is an individual involved in a study who appears to be a participant but is actually working for the researcher. These individuals are given specific instructions on how to behave in order to manipulate social situations as part of the experimental design.

Research Confederate

Stanley Milgram's renowned research on obedience to authority was partially inspired by his secondhand informal observation of accused Nazi war criminals on trial. Hearing their claims that they were merely following orders led him to formulate research ideas about whether ordinary people would perform immoral acts when directed by an authority figure.

Inspiration for Milgram's Obedience Study

Stanley Milgram’s classic obedience study highlights the profound difficulty of weighing research risks against benefits, as the severe psychological stress was borne by the participants, while the resulting scientific knowledge primarily benefited society. Participants experienced extreme tension, including trembling and seizures, because they were deceptively led to believe they were administering painful electric shocks to a confederate. The ongoing debate surrounding this study centers on whether the significant insights gained into destructive obedience—which help explain historical atrocities like the Holocaust—were truly worth the severe emotional harm inflicted on the participants. Notably, evaluating this ethical balance requires acknowledging that Milgram went to great lengths to debrief his participants, returning their mental states to normal and demonstrating that most found the research valuable and were glad to have participated.

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