In 1961 Stanley Milgram made the headlines with his hugely controversial and unethical study into human obedience to authority. Taking place only months into the trials of WWII Nazi leaders, Milgram aimed to discover if those who committed the atrocities in concentration camps were truly evil people, or simply following orders from a higher figure.
Participants were given the role of ‘teacher’, and told by the experimenter to administer electric shocks to the ‘learner’, a fellow participant in a separate room, if they answered questions incorrectly. The ‘learner’ was a confederate of the experimenter, and no actual shocks were given.
With every wrong answer, participants were told to up the voltage of the shock administered, and as the volts increased, the ‘learner’ was heard to scream, cry and beg the ‘teacher’ to stop.
Shockingly, under the verbal prompting of the experimenter, 65% of participants continued to shock the ‘learner’, even after the screaming gave way to silence, until three shocks of 450 volts had been administered.
Although no actual electric shocks occurred, this study caused huge psychological issues for participants who had been lead to believe they had seriously harmed, or even killed, somebody.
Milgram certainly proved his point that individuals are capable of evil acts when obeying authority, but the amount of pressure he put on the volunteers during the experiment and amount of distress they experienced rightly makes this experiment very unethical.
Participants were given the role of ‘teacher’, and told by the experimenter to administer electric shocks to the ‘learner’, a fellow participant in a separate room, if they answered questions incorrectly. The ‘learner’ was a confederate of the experimenter, and no actual shocks were given.
With every wrong answer, participants were told to up the voltage of the shock administered, and as the volts increased, the ‘learner’ was heard to scream, cry and beg the ‘teacher’ to stop.
Shockingly, under the verbal prompting of the experimenter, 65% of participants continued to shock the ‘learner’, even after the screaming gave way to silence, until three shocks of 450 volts had been administered.
Although no actual electric shocks occurred, this study caused huge psychological issues for participants who had been lead to believe they had seriously harmed, or even killed, somebody.
Milgram certainly proved his point that individuals are capable of evil acts when obeying authority, but the amount of pressure he put on the volunteers during the experiment and amount of distress they experienced rightly makes this experiment very unethical.
http://www.nullhypothesis.co.uk/science//item/milgram_experiment_obedience_ethical_experiments
http://www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/imaginingtorture/jcPix/image020.jpg
http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2userfiles/ad_hoc/19000000SafetyHealthandEnvironmentalTraining/graphics/Electric-
links to pictures do not work
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