Chapter 76. Obedience: The Milgram Experiment

experiment

a method of research that manipulates an independent variable to measure its effect on a dependent variable

Obedience: The Milgram Experiment

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Learning Objectives:

Describe the results of Stanley Milgram’s experiment on obedience.

Understand how the social environment influences obedience.

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Review

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1. Would you give a classmate a painful electric shock just because your professor ordered you to do it? How far would you go to obey the commands of an authority figure? Those were the questions investigated in a classic experiment by Stanley Milgram during the 1960s.

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The figure is a scene with three men. The first man is Participant 1, who has been assigned to be a teacher in the study. The second man represents Participant 2, who is being paid by the experimenter to pretend to be a learner in the study. The third man is the experimenter. He is telling Participant 1 that he will be the teacher, and Participant 2 will be the learner.

2. Milgram recruited male research participants for a study to assess the effects of punishment on learning. By what appeared to be a random drawing, each participant was assigned the role of teacher.

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The figure includes two rooms. In the first room an experimenter sits at a table behind the teacher, who sits at a table with a shock generator A wire from the shock generator runs from this room to the second room. In the second room, the learner sits at a table with a shock generator display with lights.

3. The "teacher" was ordered to deliver electric shocks to the "learner," in an adjacent room, for any errors made while the learner attempted to memorize a list of word pairs. (The "learner" was the experimenter's confederate—paid by the experimenter to act in a certain way—and was not actually shocked, but the "teacher" didn't know this.)

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The figure is an image of a shock generator. It is a large rectangular box with controls on the front for delivering various voltages of shocks. The shocks increase in voltage from 15 volts on the left to 450 volts on the far right in increments of 15 volts. Slight shock includes 15 to 60 volts. Moderate shock includes 75 to 120 volts. Strong shock includes 135 to 180 volts. Very strong shock includes 195 to 240 volts. Intense shock includes 245 to 300 volts. Extreme intensity shock includes 315 to 360 volts. Danger or severe shock includes 375 to 420 volts. The label 'XXX' is given to 450 volts.

4. The “teacher” was instructed to begin with a switch labeled “15 Volts—Slight Shock” for the first error made by the “learner.” For each subsequent error, the teacher was instructed to increase the shock level in 15-volt intervals toward the final “450 Volts—XXX” switch.

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The figure is a scene with two men. One of the men is the experimenter. He is standing at a desk and says, “You must continue the experiment”. He is speaking to the teacher or participant in the study. In response, the teacher tells the learner, “Learner, I'm sorry, but I have to punish you with 450 volts.”

5. In spite of the "learner’s" escalating protests and screams of pain, 63 percent of the "teachers" complied fully with the experimenter’s commands and delivered 450 volts—a potentially deadly shock.

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Practice 1: Moving the Learner

Select the “Show the new arrangement” button to view the new physical arrangement.

The figure includes two rooms. In the first room an experimenter sits at a table behind the teacher, who sits at a table with a shock generator A wire from the shock generator runs from this room to the second room. In the second room, the learner sits at a table with a shock generator display with lights.

The figure includes one room. Now the learner is sitting next to the teacher instead of a different room. The experimenter still sits behind the teacher. You are asked to select whether the obedience rate increased or decreased using the two buttons on the right side of the screen.

In Milgram's original experiment, the experimenter sat in the same room with the "teacher" (the real participant), while the "learner" was out of sight in another room. Obedience rate: 63 percent.

In one variation of the experiment, the "learner" was moved into the same room as the "teacher."

No. When the "learner" was in the same room with the "teacher," the obedience rate dropped to 40 percent. (Only 40 percent went to 450 volts.)

Yes. When the "learner" was in the same room with the "teacher," the obedience rate dropped to 40 percent. (Only 40 percent went to 450 volts.)

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Practice 2: Moving the Experimenter

Select the “Show the new arrangement” button to view the new physical arrangement.

The figure includes two rooms. In the first room an experimenter sits at a table behind the teacher, who sits at a table with a shock generator A wire from the shock generator runs from this room to the second room. In the second room, the learner sits at a table with a shock generator display with lights.

The figure includes three rooms. Now the experimenter, learner, and teacher are each in separate rooms. You are asked to select whether the obedience rate increased or decreased using the two buttons on the right side of the screen.

In Milgram's original experiment, the experimenter sat in the same room with the "teacher" (the real participant), while the "learner" was out of sight in another room. Obedience rate: 63 percent.

In another variation of the experiment, the experimenter was moved out of sight in a different room from the "teacher."

No. When the experimenter was in a different room, the obedience rate dropped to 21 percent. (Only 21 percent went all the way to 450 volts.)

Yes. When the experimenter was in a different room, the obedience rate dropped to 21 percent. (Only 21 percent went all the way to 450 volts.)

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Practice 3: Teacher Decides the Punishment

Click on the slider bar to move the pointer and make your prediction. Then select the “What happened?” button.

In one final variation on his study, Milgram allowed the "teachers" to choose the level of punishment for each error the "learner" made (that is, they were not told to increase the level of shock by 15 volts for each error). Knowing what you do about the results of the original study, predict the average level of shock these new "teachers" chose to deliver.

The figure is a gauge that appears vertically on the screen. The voltage of the gauge ranges from 15 volts for slight shock on the far left to 450 volts for extreme XXX shock on the far right. The labels for the voltage are in 30 volt increments starting with 30 volts. A slider appears in the middle of the gauge.

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Select the NEXT button and move to the Conclusion.

Try to respond to the statements again.

Quiz

Select a button to indicate whether each statement is True or False. When responses have been placed for all the statements, select the CHECK ANSWER button.

True	False
		Milgram found that most people disobey an authority's commands to deliver painful shocks to an innocent victim.
		Milgram found that, compared to the original study where the experimenter was in the same room with the "teacher," the obedience rate of the "teachers" decreased when the experimenter was out of sight in a different room.
		Milgram found that a “teacher's” obedience increased when the "learner" was in the same room as the "teacher.
		When Milgram allowed the “teachers” to decide how much shock to give the "learner," only one of the "teachers" delivered a 450-volt shock.

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Congratulations!

You have completed the activity Obedience: The Milgram Experiment.