Stanley Milgram's Experiment On Obedience
IB Psychology (HL) Krissy Gear
Milgram’s Experiment on Obedience P. 3 July 1961, Yale University Psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment to test peoples’ obedience to authority figures. He wanted to see how many people would comply or resist commands by (an idea of) an authority figure. Milgram’s experiment began with two men about twenty to fifty years in age. The participants volunteered through an advertisement and a promise of $4.50 for their participation. One man would assume the role of the “teacher”, and the other would act as the “student”. Milgram then explained to them the process of what would transpire. The student would be strapped to a chair in one room and the teacher would sit at a desk in another room, where neither man could see each other. The teacher would read off words in a sequence to the student. If the student answered correctly, the teacher would proceed to the next question. If he answered incorrectly, the teacher would press a level to give the student a shock. Each time the student answered a question incorrectly, the voltage of the shock increased. This process ended when one of three things happened: the teacher refused to inflict any more pain on the student, the teacher reached the end of the test, or the test conductor …show more content…
Psychologist Diana Baumrind argues that “Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience did not meet ethical standards for research,” because “participants were subjected to a research design that caused undue psychological stress that was not resolved after the study.” However, that statement is countered by the fact that after the experiment took place, 83.7% of the participants were glad to be in the experiment and had no problem with it. 1.3% were sorry to have been in the experiment, and the remaining 15.1% were neither sorry nor
Milgram’s Experiment on Obedience P. 3 July 1961, Yale University Psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment to test peoples’ obedience to authority figures. He wanted to see how many people would comply or resist commands by (an idea of) an authority figure. Milgram’s experiment began with two men about twenty to fifty years in age. The participants volunteered through an advertisement and a promise of $4.50 for their participation. One man would assume the role of the “teacher”, and the other would act as the “student”. Milgram then explained to them the process of what would transpire. The student would be strapped to a chair in one room and the teacher would sit at a desk in another room, where neither man could see each other. The teacher would read off words in a sequence to the student. If the student answered correctly, the teacher would proceed to the next question. If he answered incorrectly, the teacher would press a level to give the student a shock. Each time the student answered a question incorrectly, the voltage of the shock increased. This process ended when one of three things happened: the teacher refused to inflict any more pain on the student, the teacher reached the end of the test, or the test conductor …show more content…
Psychologist Diana Baumrind argues that “Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience did not meet ethical standards for research,” because “participants were subjected to a research design that caused undue psychological stress that was not resolved after the study.” However, that statement is countered by the fact that after the experiment took place, 83.7% of the participants were glad to be in the experiment and had no problem with it. 1.3% were sorry to have been in the experiment, and the remaining 15.1% were neither sorry nor