STANLEY MILGRIM’S EXPERIMENT

http://www.slideshare.net/mbritt/stanley-milgram-study-on-obedience-to-authority-and-the-recent-replication

The Milgram Obedience Studies Time frame: 1963- 1965

Experimental Question: Under what conditions will people carry out the

commands of an authority figure and when will they refuse to obey?

-Milgram, S. (1963) Behavioral Study of Obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology

-Milgram, S (1965) Some conditions of obedience and disobedience to authority. Human Relations, 18, 57-76

Stanley Milgrim’s Video Resource:http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Original-Milgram-Experiment-1961- ORhttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbm0li_the-milgram-experiment_shortfilms

Overview of video: approx. 10 minutes General information of thought provoking ideas/concerns/questions and etc.

Assignment: As you watch the video… Please write down under your Note sections, 3 critical issues/ideas you learned by watching the video. You will be asked to

share your thoughts on what you witnessed. You must also formulate 2 questions regarding the video to ask the class.

Milgram Study Setup

Subjects were told that they were participating in a study on the effect of punishment on memory

One “participant” in the study-the-”learner”

The teacher was given a list of “paired associates”

The teacher was told to shock the learner when the learner gave an incorrect response.

The “learner” is hooked up to what appears to be a shock generating machine with 30 switches labeled from “Slight Shock” to “Danger: Severe Shock”

The “teachers” were given a shock of 45 volts to convince them that the shocks were real

The “learners” response to the questions is scripted(and played back on a tape recorder)

At 150 volts the “ learner” is heard asking that the experiment stop[

Milgram Study Setup Experimenter prompts: if the “teacher” objected to

continuing the experiment, the experimenter’s script included the following prompts:

PROMPTS: Please continue or Please go on The experiment requires that you continue It is absolutely essential that you continue You have no other choice, you must go on

Milgram Study Results

Milgram: There were powerful reactions of tension and emotional strain in a substantial proportion of the participants. Persons were observed to sweat, tremble, stutter, bite their lips…”

Remarks from two subjects: Is he banging? Is he hurt out there? Well, I don’t want

to be responsible for anything that happens to him. No, I can’t go on with it. I don’t know whether he’s all right or not. I mean he may have a heart condition or something. I wouldn’t feel right doing it…I don’t see any sense to this…I just can’t see it.

Milgram’s Study Results The experimental setup was described to

40 psychiatrists. They predicted that no on would go beyond the 10th level (150 volts)

Actual results: 65% of the subjects obeyed the experimenter and shocked the “learner” all the way to 450 volts(“Severe Shock”)

No difference between men and women

Milgram: What You May Not Have Heard

The “learner”, Mr. McDonough, died of a heart attack three years after the studies ended. His neighbor, who unsuccessfully tried to revive him using mouth to mouth resuscitation, had been a “teacher” in the Milgram studies and had administered “shocks” to Mr. McDonough just a few years earlier.

One of the “teachers” (who had gone all the way to 450 volts) was invited into a social psychology class to speak about his experience in the study. The students(who had already learned about the study) were nearly silent and stared at him with accusing and disbelieving eyes. He reminded the class that you never know what you might have done in that situation.

- “Beyond the Shock Machine” –Gina Perry

Why Did People Obey?

Why Did People Obey? Obedience to Authority1. “…our culture socializes individuals

to obey certain authority figures such as police officers, teachers, and parents.

2. The perceived expertise of the experimenter contributed to the participants’ decision to follow the instructions.

Why Did People Obey? A Need For Consistency A Change In Self – Perception Escalation Of Commitment Limited Sources Of Information Responsibility Had Not Been

Assigned Proximity Of The Learner

Are you capable of treating people like this??

Take 1minute and ask your self the above question in regards to

the Stanford Prison Experiment? Be ready to share your answer.

YES or NO?

WHY or WHY NOT?

The Robbers Cave Experiment Muzafer Sherif et al (1954)

NOW read the, The Robbers Cave Experiment Muzafer Sherif et al (1954)

Be ready to give feedback in a class discussion.

What do these pictures tell us about obedience to authority?

Are you capable of treating people like this?? Questions to ask yourself…Take out a piece of paper and write down your answers to the following 10

questions below.

1. How do you respect yourself? (List 5…)2. How do you respect others? (List at least 5…)3. Do you recognize others flaws and exploit them?? …rumors…4. When someone tells you that their hurt or in pain, how do you demonstrate empathy or show

sympathy?5. Write down 1 incident when you were told to do something you KNEW was wrong either morally,

ethically but you did it anyway. 6. State the reason WHY you went a long with it even though it was wrong? Would you do it again?7. Have you ever tried to convenience someone or persuade them to do something they did NOT want to

do?8. How do you show appreciation to yourself? Or to others?9. Do you undermine authority secretly thinking your getting away with something?10. Have you learned from your past mistakes?

Results of Milgrim’s Experiment Conditions that decrease obedience

1. Prestige of the experimenter2. Disobedient models

Results of Milgrim’s Experiment The RESULTS, AS SEEN and felt in the laboratory,

are disturbing. They raise the possibility that human nature, or more specifically the kind of characters produced in American society, cannot be counted as insulate its citizens from brutality and inhumane treatment at the direction of malevolent authority.

A substantial proportion of people do what they are told to do irrespective of the content the act and without limitations of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command comes from legitimate authority.