Stanley Milgram Experiment Summary
Stanley Milgram carried out one of the most famous studies of obedience in psychology. He was a psychologist at Yale University, conducting an experiment that focused on the conflict between obedience and morality. It showed that people have a strong tendency to obey with authority figures. Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an order even if it involved harming another individual. He was fascinated on how easily ordinary people could be influenced in committing evil.
In order to start his experiment, he selected participants by newspaper advertising for 40 male participants between the ages of 20 and 50 to take part in a study of learning at Yale University. They were enrolled for a lab experiment investing …show more content…
To be honest, the situation/setting Milgram investigated would be more suitable to a military context because we are wiser when it comes to real-life situations. Milgram’s subjects were biased because they were all male and self-selected. This is only because they became participants only by nominating to respond to a newspaper advertisement. There were also a lot of ethical issues as well. There was deception in where participants believed they were harming a real person by giving them shocks. They were unaware to the fact that the learner was actually a confederate. Another was protection of participants where the participants were exposed to the extremely stressful situations that may have caused psychological harm. Many were visibly distressed that included trembling, sweating, nervous laughter, and biting lips. Milgram did debrief the participants after the experiment and even followed up after a period of time to make sure they came to no harm. He also had disclosed the true nature of this experiment, assuring the participants that their behavior was common. Not only did he gave debrief, but he gave the right to withdraw out of the experiment even though he had prods but those are justified as the study was about obedience. His findings have been replicated in a variety of cultures. Most led to the same conclusion as the original study and in some cases, saw higher obedience
In order to start his experiment, he selected participants by newspaper advertising for 40 male participants between the ages of 20 and 50 to take part in a study of learning at Yale University. They were enrolled for a lab experiment investing …show more content…
To be honest, the situation/setting Milgram investigated would be more suitable to a military context because we are wiser when it comes to real-life situations. Milgram’s subjects were biased because they were all male and self-selected. This is only because they became participants only by nominating to respond to a newspaper advertisement. There were also a lot of ethical issues as well. There was deception in where participants believed they were harming a real person by giving them shocks. They were unaware to the fact that the learner was actually a confederate. Another was protection of participants where the participants were exposed to the extremely stressful situations that may have caused psychological harm. Many were visibly distressed that included trembling, sweating, nervous laughter, and biting lips. Milgram did debrief the participants after the experiment and even followed up after a period of time to make sure they came to no harm. He also had disclosed the true nature of this experiment, assuring the participants that their behavior was common. Not only did he gave debrief, but he gave the right to withdraw out of the experiment even though he had prods but those are justified as the study was about obedience. His findings have been replicated in a variety of cultures. Most led to the same conclusion as the original study and in some cases, saw higher obedience