Milgram’s Shocking 1963 Study
Paper Review
In this article, we will summarize and evaluate one of the most influential and controversial studies in social psychology: Milgram's (1963) behavioural study of obedience. Milgram's study was indeed motivated by the atrocities committed by Nazi perpetrators during the Holocaust and aimed to investigate how ordinary people could obey orders to harm innocent victims. He wanted to test the hypothesis that most people would resist such orders, and that only a few would comply due to personality factors or situational pressures.
Experimental Design:
The study involved 40 male volunteers recruited through newspaper ads and paid $4.50 for their participation. They were told they were participating in a study of memory and learning and were randomly assigned to the role of teacher or learner. However, the assignment was rigged, and all participants were assigned the role of teacher. The learner was actually a confederate of the experimenter, who pretended to be strapped to an electric chair in an adjacent room.
The teacher, instructed by the experimenter (who wore a lab coat and acted as an authority figure), administered electric shocks to the learner every time he made a mistake in a word-pairing task. The shocks ranged from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 volts (danger: severe shock). The learner's responses, including protests and pleas to stop, were pre-recorded and played at certain shock levels. The experimenter used verbal prods to encourage the teacher to continue, even if they expressed hesitation or desire to stop.
Results:
The study found that 26 out of 40 participants (65%) obeyed the experimenter and administered the highest shock level of 450 volts, despite the learner's apparent suffering. Only 14 participants (35%) defied the experimenter and stopped before reaching the highest shock level. Participants exhibited signs of extreme stress during the experiment, including sweating, trembling, and nervous laughter.
Critiques:
Milgram's study has indeed been widely cited and discussed in psychology literature as a demonstration of obedience to authority and the potential for human cruelty. However, it has also faced ethical and methodological criticisms. Ethical concerns include deception, lack of informed consent, lack of debriefing, and potential harm to participants. Methodological issues include lack of ecological validity, generalizability, and experimental realism, as well as challenges in controlling extraneous variables and replicating the study's results.
Simply Put:
Milgram's behavioural study of obedience remains a landmark in social psychology, generating significant interest and controversy. While it has provided insights into human behavior and morality, it has also raised important ethical and methodological questions. The study has inspired further research on obedience, authority, and related topics, contributing to our understanding of social influence and human behaviour.