Milgram’s experiment on obedience and power is arguably one of the most important experiments conducted in social psychology. However, the original experiment can only be conducted by breaking the principle of nonmaleficence. As such, without the ability to replicate the experiment without violating nonmaleficence its findings are limited to the situation of the original experiment. However, through the work of Prof. Burger (2009) and Prof. Dolinski (2017), Milgram’s experiment has been replicated in the modern century and without violating nonmaleficence. Thus, if these experiments accurately replicate Milgram’s findings, Milgram’s own findings can be applied to the full breadth of social psychology. Milgram’s experiment is often brought …show more content…
Both variations introduce verbal protests into the experiment and for variation 5 introduce the learner’s heart problem into the experiment. They are also the two variations replicated by Burger (variation 5) and Dolinski (variation 2). However, how can this be the case when they are much crueller than the original experiment? Burger observed that 150v was a turning point for the experiment which coincided with when the ‘learner’ began to wish to withdraw from the experiment. At this point, 6 of the teachers withdrew from the experiment with one withdrawing prior and most participants either verbally or nonverbally showed their reluctance to continue (Burger, 2009). This is similarly found in the 2nd variation with 5 participants withdrawing by the 150v switch (Milgram,1974). Thus, Burger proposed the experiment can be replicated up to the 150v switch and hence not violate nonmaleficence. This has allowed for the experiment to be replicated in areas of interest not previously explored in variations conducted by Milgram. For example, Dolinski’s replication was conducted in Poland, whose occupation by Nazi at the start of WWII may prove to influence their findings. Furthermore, the fact that these replications could occur reinforces that Baumrind’s concept of ‘inflicted insight’ applied to the murder of another human through complying with an authority
The subject of obedience has long been discussed all around the world. What is it that makes individuals follow orders or fall into line when told to by people in authority? Milgram (1963) became increasingly interested in the subject after the tragedies of the Second World War. He himself was of Jewish descent which situated him and informed his research and choices. Obedience as a determinant of behaviour can have catastrophic consequences, and through his studies of obedience Milgram was looking at the extent a participant will go with administering electric shocks to a victim in the presence of an individual in authority.
He saw that the more personal, or close, the real participant had to be to the fake one, while they were being shocked, affected the obedience as well. He also noticed that if there were two other fake participants teaching that refused to shock their learners that the real participant would not comply. Finally, he tested the experimenter telling the real patient to shock the learner by telephone, instead of actually being there in person, reduced obedience as well (McLead). The Milgram experiment and the Nuremburg trials can relate extensively to explain how the Holocaust happened the way it did.
Instead, through a game of memory, the volunteers are observed on how they react when the authority tells them to deliver pain on another person. A question is asked by the volunteer to the ‘learner’ who is in the next room and is placed there by Milgram with the purpose to pretend his hurting when shocks are delivered. When the ‘learner’ makes a mistake then the volunteer must deliver a shock as a punishment “Punishment is administered by
However, Zimbardo and Milgram were ethical in their experimental procedure and proves blind obedience was a factor in each subject. Both Milgram and Zimbardo’s articles effectively highlight the ethics surrounding their respective experiments. Both authors began their articles with an unbiased
In an experiment described in Stanley Milgram’s article ,“The Perils of Obedience” most of the subjects as described as teachers, tend to follow orders from the experimenter even when they knew the victim (student) were being hurt by the electric shocks. The experiment in detail is to test how much pain someone can give to another just because he was ordered to. The experiment was divided between two people, a student and a teacher. They were to read a pair of words, then remember the second word afterwards. If the answer was incorrect then they were to be punished by the electric shock.
While arguably one of the defining psychological studies of the 20th Century, the research was not without flaws. Almost immediately the study became a subject for debate amongst psychologists who argued that the research was both ethically flawed and its lack of diversity meant it could not be generalized. Ethically, a significant critique of the experiment is that the participants actually believed they were administering serious harm to a real person, completely unaware that the learner was in fact acting. Although Milgram argued that the illusion was a necessary part of the experiment to study the participants’ reaction, they were exposed to a highly stressful situation. Many were visibly distraught throughout the duration of the test
David’s claim that the Holocaust occurred because the Germans became unusually cruel is false based on the fundamental attribution error and Milgram’s experiments. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to attribute other people’s behavior to internal factors, instead of accounting for situational factors. David committed this error when stating that Germans, as a whole, were “sadistic people with abnormal and twisted personalities”. David did not account for the immense pressure that the German public felt from Hitler during World War II. Although many atrocities were being committed, the Germans feared for their lives if they stood up for the Jews and disobeyed Hitler’s rule.
Since the beginning of the human existence, man has always dominated and ruled over one another be it empires, corporations, or small groups. Authority and obedience has always been a factor of who we are. This natural occurrence can be seen clearly through the psychological experiments known as The Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Both of these studies are based on how human beings react to authority figures and what their obedience is when faced with conflict.
On day six Zimbardo and Milgram decided to conclude the experiment. Zimbardo originally intended to explore how prisoners adapt to powerlessness, but he has contended that the experiment demonstrates how swiftly arbitrary assignment of power can lead to abuse. (Maher, The anatomy of obedience. P. 408) Once the experiment was completed Zimbardo and Milgram concluded that generally people will conform to the roles they are told to play.
The 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.
Name : Muhammed Irshad Madonna ID : 250509 Subject : Medical Ethics Due Date : 8/01/2018 Paper : 1-The Milgram Experiment The Stanley Milgram Experiment is a famous study about obedience in psychology which has been carried out by a Psychologist at the Yale University named, Stanley Milgram. He conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. In July 1961 the experiment was started for researching that how long a person can harm another person by obeying an instructor.
In, “If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Stranger, Would You? Probably” Phillip Meyer discusses Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment and the probability of normal people electrocuting a stranger. Milgram’s experiment was originally to show that Germans were different, which would explain the Nazis and the Holocaust. However, what he found was even more shocking. Milgram discovered that most people, not just Germans, are naturally very obedient.
His experiment was all a hoax. The shock machine was fake. All he wanted was to know how many people would be obedient and how many would be defiant. Much to Milgram’s surprise sixty-five percent of people did what were told of them, and only thirty-five percent were
He first took a poll on how his experiment would turn out. He asked residents of New Haven, Yale undergraduates, and a group of psychiatrists how they thought a group of people would behave in this situation he wanted to enact. They all told him the same answer, and predicted that every person who was to be involved in this experiment would not go all the way and shock someone all the way up to 450 volts (Slater, 40). He ended up with the result of 65% were obedient, and the other 35% were defiant. Why didn’t the 35% carry out the experiment?
People have talked about how power can corrupt a person's mind. In the articles, that were written by Saul Mcleod, " The Stanford Prison Experiment" and "The Milgram Experiment," he writes about two studies that are able to prove the theories. In "The Stanford Prison Experiment," Mcleod writes about a professor named Zimbardo. In 1917 Zimabardo conducted a study to see if power would corrupt a person's mind if the gained authority over another. He had college kids act as prison guards and the others as prisoners.