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Stanley Milgram's Behavioral Study Of Obedience

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BACKGROUND “Obedience is an active or deliberate form of social influence, which involves someone in authority requiring us to behave in a particular was in a particular situation.” (Gross, R 2015:446) Stanley Milgram (1963) ‘behavioural study of obedience’ was “originally attempting to test the ’Germans are different’ hypothesis” (Gross, R 2012:226) to explain how a dictator like Hitler was able to coerce thousand to execute millions of Jews, Poles and others within his Nazi reign between the 1930s and 1940s. Milgram had planned to conduct this study in Germany, once he had completed these American studies but due to the conclusion, further studies were not necessary. This study focuses “on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal …show more content…

It may be due to humans needs to please or be seen to ‘do as they are told’ or simply to be on the right side of the law and do the right thing, either way, an immense number would kill another person if given the order to do so. In current times an experiment of this nature would not have been given permission to go ahead, as it is seen as ethically and morally wrong to harm another person. It also goes against the British Psychological Society (BSP) code of ethics, which provides guidelines for how research should be conducted. Milgram’s study goes against 2 of the main principle; Deception, all participants was misled about the aims of the research and the true identities of participants. Withdrawal from an Investigation, a study should respect the participants right to leave or refuse a study at any time if they feel uncomfortable. “They should be told at the start of the study that they have the right to withdraw. They should not have pressure placed upon them to continue if they do not want to.” (McLeod, S. A.

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