Summary Of The Behavioral Study Of Obedience At Yale University

Stanley Milgram conducted the Behavioral Study of Obedience at Yale University while following the layout of the scientific method. He defines the problem by explaining the definition of obedience on its uses in society, particularly how it has contributed to the death of many. He wanted to investigate if obedience, which for some is a deeply ingrained behavior, can override a person’s ethics ( Milgram, 371). There were 40 male participants between the ages of 20 and 50 from New Haven and surrounding communities. The subject’s educational levels ranged from high school education to doctorates, and their occupations and ages varied as well. Milgram mentions a study that was performed by Levinson and Stanford, and how their research concludes
The procedure was performed by participant being paired with another person then find out who would be the learner and who would be the teacher. The draw was fixed so that the participant was always be the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederates pretending to be a real participant. Milgram developed a shock generator with shock levels starting at 30 volts and increasing in 15-volt increments all the way up to 450 volts. The many switches were labeled with terms including "slight shock," "moderate shock" and "danger: severe shock", the final two switches were labeled simply with an ominous "XXX."(Milgram373). If the participant showed any hesitation doubt, the experimenter would respond with 4 prods including; “please continue”, “the experiment requires you to continue”, “it is absolutely essential that you continue”, and” you have no other choice but to continue” (Milgram 374). The results in the study showed that majority of the participants delivered the maximum shock. These findings gave us incite on our limits in order to fulfill obedience, and how we would react to authority while under pressure in a serious