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A Driving Cause: The Milgram Paradigm

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A Driving Cause A prominent explanation was suggested and studies by Haslam et al. (2014) who came up with the "Followership Model" that was mentioned earlier, focused on the type of prod used, and the correlation between the type of prod used and the levels of obedience exhibited. They designed a study in which they assessed each prod of the 4 used by Milgram and found out that the prod that yielded in the highest obedience scores was a prod that implied obedience in the name of scientific advancement and benefit. Counter intuitively, the prod that signified a clear order had the lowest obedience rates. This idea pours into the mechanisms used to control masses and elicit obedience among large amounts of people. Therefore, leaders or people …show more content…

Pilot studies preceded the baseline study in years and thus ensuring utmost precision in what variables to control and what situations to elicit in the laboratory. Moreover, there is a huge role played by Yale university, a very prestigious institution, to be chosen as the setting for Milgram's experiment (Russell, 2014). Not to mention, the role of the NSF, a funding agency, that Milgram convinced to fund his research after presenting his design on how he planned to exhibit the highest rates of obedience. Last but not least, there are the two crucial people who were consistent throughout the period in which all Milgram's experiments were conducted: James McDonough, the learner who was also called as Mr. Wallace, and John Williams, the experimenter (Russell, 2014). After observing the above factors, Russell introduced two terms that describe the features affecting obedience rates. The first is the Strain Reducing Mechanism (SRM) which stands for any mechanism the person might use to reduce the tension usually associated with harming someone. And the second is the Binding Factor (BF) which is a powerful bond that can entrap a person into doing something, they might otherwise prefer not to. The presence of both Strain Reducing Mechanisms and Binding Factors facilitated the success of the experiment and the production of the desired results (Russell, …show more content…

Another way to replicate the study would be to make the 150V the ending point of the experiment, and that is mainly because in Milgram's baseline study people who reached 150V continued till the fatal voltage of 450V, and thus there is no need to have a voltage higher than

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