How To Evaluate Milgram's Theory Of Obedience
In 1963, Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, carried out an experiment into the obedience of seemingly normal Germans to Nazi authority during the Holocaust. He hoped to examine whether Americans would obey the instructions of authority, even if doing so contradicted their moral beliefs. A newspaper advertisement billed the experiment as a study into memory, calling for ordinary males from various professions. At the start of the experiment, each participant was introduced to, what they believed to be, another participant (he was in fact a confederate of Milgram). They drew straws to determine their role as either the 'teacher ' or 'learner ', although this was fixed to ensure the real participant was always the 'teacher '. …show more content…
Regardless of these morally jarring responses, 65% of participants continued to 450 volts, and all participants continued to 300 volts. The results of this study suggest that ordinary people are very likely to obey orders given by authority figures, even to the extreme of killing another person, if they see such authority as legally or morally based. Although this study proved to be massively influential in terms of human behaviour, the way in which it was conducted has been criticised. One of the main criticisms is the environment of the experiment. The study took place in a laboratory setting and this may have been reflecting in participants ' responses. It could be argued that this scenario is highly artificial and unlike real life, therefore the experiment may lack ecological validity. This brings into question whether similar observations would be made should this study be undertaken in the field. In addition, some psychologists have suggested that Milgram 's method lacked 'experimental realism ': participant might have realised the experiment was not real and that the 'learner ' was not being electrocuted. This could lower participants ' reluctance to inflict suffering - they knew no harm could be done - thus, potentially,
Summary Of Opening Skinner's Box By Lauren Slater
743 Words | 3 PagesIn conclusion, I believe the way Slater presents her evidence is very convincing. She makes it a point to explain all of the controversial points that surround Stanley Milgram and his experiments. While we might not agree on all of her points, we both share the thought that Milgram and his experiments have affected positively despite the issues of its purpose, results, usefulness, and morality shroud the experiments in
In Cold Blood And The Milgram Experiment
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Deception And Deception Essay
535 Words | 3 PagesDeception from a moral viewpoint would be something that is seen as wrong, but in a study or experiment for research I think deception is something that is necessary to gain certain knowledge that we wouldn 't be able to gain using regular methods. Usually, the ends justify the means to a deceptive experiments and they usually have good intentions behind them. Many people may be angry after the experiment is over but it is shown that people enjoy an experiment with deception more than an experiment without deception; and people also benefit from them more, educationally. I believe deception is a necessary tool for learning about human behavior and human reaction. Deceptive experiments are experiments that really make you think when the experiment
Stanley Milgram's The Perils Of Obedience
1014 Words | 5 PagesLike Psychologist Diana Baumrind did so in her article “Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments”. Where she makes it very clear that she disagrees with causing individuals stress and discomfort. In her article, Baumrind states “It is potentially harmful to a subject to commit, on the course of an experiment, acts which he himself considers unworthy, particularly when he has been entrapped into committing such acts by an individual he has reason to trust” which in this case the trustworthy individual would be Stanley Milgram. Baumrind also worried about the dangers of the serious aftereffects that may ensure because of the stress and discomfort Stanley Milgram’s experiment has caused. Even though Stanley Milgram states that “After the interview, procedures were undertaken to assure that the subject would leave the laboratory in a state of well-being.”
Comparison Of The Holocaust And Milgram Experiments
259 Words | 2 PagesThe Milgram experiment was an experiment that tested an individual's willingness to follow the instructions of an authority figure. Subjects were told to shock a person, who they believed to also be a subject, if they answered a question wrong. The people getting shocked were actors and were not actually receiving electrical shocks. Many of the subjects continued to give high voltage shocks because they were told to. This proves that in high-stress situations people are willingly listen to authority figures despite what the say to do.
Compare And Contrast The Milgram Experiment And The Stanford Prison Experiment
810 Words | 4 PagesDuring the 1960’s Stanley Milgram conducted a series of experiments to test how a person reacts to authority. He started these tests in response to World War Two and the reports of the German soldiers who claimed they were “just following orders’ when asked about
Group Conformity In The Holocaust
1471 Words | 6 PagesConformity and group mentality are major aspects of social influence that have governed some of the most notorious events and experiments in history. The Holocaust is a shocking example of group mentality, or groupthink, which states that all members of the group must support the group’s decisions strongly, and all evidence leading to the contrary must be ignored. Social norms are an example of conformity on a smaller scale, such as tipping your waiter or waitress, saying please and thank you, and getting a job and becoming a productive member of society. Our society hinges on an individual’s inherent need to belong and focuses on manipulating that need in order to create compliant members of society by using the ‘majority rules’ concept. This
Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments
165 Words | 1 PagesStanley Milgram was a social psychologist who conducted obedience experiments in the past. The reason he conducted the experiments was to understand how the Nazi Germans perform the cruel and inhumane acts they conducted in WWII. He started the experiments at Yale University by picking 40 males ages ranging from 20-50 years of age. The experiment consisted of two people at a time. One person would be the learner and the other person would be the teacher.
Review Of Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiments
2634 Words | 11 PagesThe obedience experiments of Stanley Milgram can tell sociologists about the human tendency to obey immoral orders. This explains how atrocities, such as the Holocaust, come about and augment to the extent that they do. Furthermore, the Milgram experiment can be connected to how anti-authoritarianism is viewed as a detriment or sickness in the United States, as well as how people in the United States can actually be more prone to obey illegitimate authority than those who already reside in oppressive, authoritarian countries. Milgram aimed to prove the common belief that the cause of acts of atrocity is not necessarily because those perpetrators are innately unprincipled but that these historical tragedies are more so the result of following
The Milgram Experiment Essay
981 Words | 4 PagesThe Milgram experiment was conducted to analyze obedience to authority figures. The experiment was conducted on men from varying ages and varying levels of education. The participants were told that they would be teaching other participants to memorize a pair of words. They believed that this was an experiment that was being conducted to measure the effect that punishment has on learning, because of this they were told they had to electric shock the learner every time that they answered a question wrong. The experiment then sought out to measure with what willingness the participants obeyed the authority figure, even when they were instructed to commit actions which they seemed uncomfortable with.
Public Response To Milgram's Obedience Experiments
279 Words | 2 PagesAs a society, people who hard to say “NO” and have to obedience to the authority because of the status, public response and consistence. By persuaded to change one’s attitudes; for example, at home, school and work that people should obey with different one’s requests in every situation. In Gibson and Haritos-Fatouros (1986) research, the procedures used the foot-in-the-door phenomena try to persuade and indoctrinate Greek military police to invade their mind. Based on continuous training, no matter what the order is good or bad the police mind become reasonable since they have a strong, clear and extreme attitudes The police need to listen to the leader and follow their order. Due to Milgram’s Obedience experiments, when people need to obey
Argumentative Essay On Milgram's Experiment
810 Words | 4 Pages"Obedience is behavior that complies with the explicit demands of the individual in authority." (King, 448) If a store manager tells you to put a shirt on before entering the store, you're more than likely going to comply due to their request due to their authority over the store. You might fear that if you do not comply, you won't be permitted inside or even police being called. That is simple obedience, but what if an authority figure asked you to inflict pain on another person?
Stanley Milgram's Experiment On Obedience To Authority
293 Words | 2 PagesAn infamous experiment on obedience to authority by Stanley Milgram’s (1963) has brought a lot of speculations and arguments in both fields of psychology and ethics. Even after decades, the experiment remains controversial to me. It is one of those fascinating studies that has caught my interest. Although it was quite unethical and very deceptive in nature, its findings had brought “disturbing” awareness to us, people. It was disturbing in a sense that most us did not expect to obtain such results but nevertheless, it certainly gave us something to ponder upon.
Milgram's Behavioural Study Of Obedience Essay
1326 Words | 6 PagesMilgram’s (1963) behavioural study of obedience was an experiment to find out a person’s willingness to follow orders from an authority figure, to carry out acts that conflicted with their personal conscience (De Vos, 2009); Milgram (1963) was intrigued to discover how far people would go in following demands that involved causing harm towards another person (McLeod, 2007). He was also interested in finding out the justifications for the actions of ordinary people that could be influenced into committing cruel acts for example, Germans in World War 2. They often stated that the reasons for their actions were because they were obeying orders made by their superiors, implying that their defense was based on "obedience" (McLeod, 2007). Milgram’s
Applying Milgram's Four Theories Of Obedience
832 Words | 4 PagesA good example of this is at work if your boss asked you to undress, you would not obey him and probably call him out for sexual harassment. However, if he asked you to clean all the keyboards at work for being late even though it’s not a part of your job to do so you wouldn’t question him. This theory can be used to explain why the Nazi’s obeyed such grotesque orders. They were told by their leader, who was both their country ruler and the ruler of their army (Adolf Hitler), to murder many people after being manipulated into thinking they were vermin. Therefore, legitimizing the orders given by a system and authority figure who is respected and of higher status than everyone
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