Experiments on obedience to authority figures

In July of 1961, Yale Professor Stanley Milgram decided for himself that he would like to conduct an experiment. The Milgram Experiment was actually a series of experiments, based upon how study participants would react when they were instructed to obey a figure of authority. Milgram was attempting to gauge morality when individuals were asked to inflict pain beyond their beliefs.

There was to be a teacher and a learner. Two participants drew slips of paper to ‘determine’ their roles. Unknown to them, both slips said “teacher”, and an actor claimed to have the slip that read “learner”, thus guaranteeing that the participant would always be the “teacher”. At this point, the “teacher” and “learner” were separated into different rooms where they could communicate but not see each other. The learner (actor) was sure to mention to the participant that he had a heart condition.

The teacher (the subject) was given a small sample shock of electricity to realize the pain that he would be inflicting upon the learner, which was supposedly strapped in another room helplessly. It was then the teacher’s duty to ask the learner some questions. After each question, the learner would press a button to indicate his response. If the response was not the correct answer, the teacher was supposed to administer a shock to the learner. And after each incorrect answer, the doses of electricity were supposed to increase. Each jolt would increase by 15 volts.

The subject was to believe that each shock was given to the learner, when in reality there was no shock. What the teacher or subject didn’t know, was that there was a tape recorder placed in the room with the learner, and the recorder was sounding off horrible moans after the shocks. The learner (actor) would also bang on the walls, asking the teacher to stop the shocks.

If the subject hesitated to give the next painful shock, a scientist sitting nearby (another actor) would ask the teacher to carry on. The experiment had to be carried on. The whole point of the experiment was to see if… the subject would keep pressing the button and continue to administer very dangerous levels of electrical shocks on another human being. The experiment would discover if a person would obey orders from a figure of authority, even if it was against his or her own better judgment.

In Milgram’s first set of experiments, 65% (26 of 40) of experiment participants administered the experiment’s final massive 450-volt shock, though many were very uncomfortable doing so; at some point, every participant paused and questioned the experiment, some said they would refund the money they were paid for participating in the experiment. Only one participant steadfastly refused to administer shocks below the 300-volt level.

It’s quite frightening to imagine that ordinary law abiding citizens would actually inflict lethal amounts of electricity just because they were told to do so. They didn’t want to disobey authority, even if it meant death to the other person.

And here’s a bit of irony  –  Stanley Milgram died of heart failure at the tender age of 51.

Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality.
But… there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real,
but not as brightly lit… a DARKSIDE.

YouTube – BBC TV May 2009
Milgram’s Experiment Reenacted 1/3
Milgram’s Experiment Reenacted 2/3
Milgram’s Experiment Reenacted 3/3