What was the Milgram experiment? According to Simplypsycholgy.com, this experiment was performed by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram, and its goal was to test how far people would go in obeying authority figures. Milgram looked at the justifications given by the Nazis tried in Nuremberg. They excused, “I was just following orders.” He, therefore, put the idea to the test. Males aged 20 to 40 were called upon from the New Haven, Connecticut area. The experiment involved a learner, teacher, and experimenter. They were separated into two rooms - one for the learner another for the teacher and experimenter. The learner was behind a wall, not actually attached to anything, while the teacher had a fake electric shock generator and took orders from the experimenter seated at another desk.

The teacher would give the learner a list of word pairs to memorize. The learner would then be asked to recall the word pairs. The teacher is told to deliver an increasing amount of shock beginning at 15 volts everytime the learner got an answer wrong. Since the learner was an actor, they would get them wrong on purpose. If the teacher refused to give an electric shock, the experimenter would tell them, “Please continue,” “The experiment requires you to continue,”  “ It is absolutely essential that you continue,” or “You have no other choice but to continue.” despite protests from the teacher.

Why was this experiment unethical? The ethical problems come from the participants being deceived into thinking they were shocking an actual human. They were also not told that they could refuse to comply. This deceitfulness easily could have resulted in mental distress for the individuals involved. Two-thirds of the participants delivered 450 volts to the learner and all of them passed 300 volts.  

This experiment made Milgram conclude that most ordinary people will follow orders if given by an authority figure. 

The Milgram experiment helps us understand how susceptible the human mind is to pressure. Whether it be from the public or from a single individual. Many of us feel: “If I were there, I would have been different.” That is easy to say in retrospect. We can all say that with hindsight 2020, however, if we were actually present, we would act differently.

Header courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Thumbnail courtesy of Blogspot.com