The Psychology Book (78 page)

dressed in a gray laboratory

technician’s coat and maintained a

stern and emotionless demeanor

throughout each of the experiments.

Convincingly wired up
,
Mr. Wallace

occupations, including teachers,

The participants were told that

pretended to be an innocent volunteer.

postal workers, engineers, laborers,

the study intended to investigate

His screams failed to prevent 65 percent

of participants from administering the

and salesmen. They were each paid

the effects of punishment on

highest level of fake electric shock.

$4.50 for their participation; the

learning. They were told that of two

money was given to them as soon as

volunteers, one would be the learner

they arrived at the laboratory, and

and the other the teacher. In fact,

play, the draw was always rigged so

they were told that the payment was

one of the two “volunteers” in each

that Mr. Wallace took on the role of

theirs to keep regardless of what

case was not a participant but a

“learner” in every instance. In full

happened during the experiment.

stooge: he was a likeable accountant

view of the participant, the “learner”

In the laboratory, Milgram had

called Mr. Wallace, who had been

(Mr. Wallace) was strapped into an

created a phony (but very impressive

trained to play the role of the victim.

“electric chair” with an electrode

and realistic-looking) electric shock

When Mr. Wallace and the genuine

attached to his wrist; the participant

generator. This had 30 switches

participant drew paper from a hat to

was told that this electrode was

marked in 15-volt increments with

determine which role they would

attached to the shock generator ❯❯

Stanley Milgram

Stanley Milgram was born in 1933

he married Alexandra Menkin,

to a Jewish family in New York

with whom he had two children.

City. His Hungarian parents ran

In 1963, he returned to Harvard,

a bakery in the Bronx, and he

but was denied tenure because

attended James Monroe High

of the controversy surrounding

School with Philip Zimbardo.

his experiment, so he moved to

A high academic achiever and a

the City University of New York,

leader among his peers, Milgram

where he taught until his death

initially studied political science,

at the age of 51.

but went on to receive a PhD in

psychology from Harvard in 1960

Key works

under Gordon Allport. After

working with Solomon Asch on

1963
Behavioral Study of

conformity studies at Harvard, he

Obedience

became assistant professor at

1967
The Small World Problem

Yale, where he carried out his

1974
Obedience to Authority:

obedience experiments. In 1961,

An Experimental View

250 STANLEY MILGRAM

Milgram’s shock generator
produced totally

unexpected results. A team of 40 psychiatrists

100%
of the participants applied shocks

predicted that fewer than 5 percent of participants

would administer shocks as high as 300 volts;

up to 300 volts; the point at which the

in fact, every participant went to this level.

learner began to shout in apparent pain.

35%
of the participants applied

Very strong shock

shocks of between 300 and 375

Strong shock

volts, but then refused to apply

any more.

Extreme

Intense shock

Moderate shock

intensity shock

65%
of the participants continued

the experiment to the end, applying

Slight shock

Danger: severe shock

X X X

the maximum shock of 450 volts as

many times as requested.

0V

450V

located in an adjacent room. The

correct answer, announce the level

an incorrectly answered question

participant heard the “scientist”

of shock he was about to receive,

and apply the next level of shock

tell the “learner” (Mr.. Wallace) that

and press a switch to administer the

voltage. If he expressed misgivings

“although the shocks can be

shock. Participants were instructed

about continuing the experiment, he

extremely painful, they cause no

to increase the shock level by 15 volts

received a verbal prod from the

permanent damage.” To make the

(in other words, to keep moving up

“scientist” to encourage him, from

situation appear more authentic,

the shock scale on the machine)

a simple request to continue, to

the scientist then wired up the

with every wrong answer.

finally being told that he had no

participant and gave him a sample

choice but to go on. If he refused

shock of 45 volts—which was in fact

Applying the shocks

to obey after the last prod, the

the only shock strength that the

As part of the experiment, the

experiment was terminated.

generator could produce.

learner (Mr. Wallace) had been

At this point, the participant

briefed to answer incorrectly to

was moved to the room containing

around one question in every four,

the shock generator and asked to

to ensure that the participant would

assume the role of “teacher.” He was

be required to start applying electric

asked to read a series of word pairs

shocks. During the experiment, the

(such as “blue-girl”, “nice-day”)

learner would pound the wall once

With numbing regularity,

aloud for the learner to memorize.

the voltage had reached 300, and

good people were seen

After this he was to read out a series

shout: “I absolutely refuse to answer

to knuckle under the

of single words; the learner’s task

any more! Get me out of here! You

demands of authority

was to recall the pairing word in

can’t hold me here! Get me out!”

and perform actions that

each case and to indicate his answer

As the shock level increased, the

were callous and severe.

by pressing a switch that illuminated

learner would shout more frantically,

Stanley Milgram

a light on the shock generator. If the

and then eventually cease making

learner’s answer was correct, the

any noise at all; questions would

questions continued; if the answer

be met with nothing but an eerie

was incorrect, the participant was

silence. The participant was told to

instructed to tell the learner the

treat any unanswered question as

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 251

In advance of the experiment,

test that they were not emotionally

Milgram had asked several different

harmed by the experience. The

groups of people, including ordinary

participants were also reunited with

members of the public as well as

the “learner” (Mr. Wallace) so that

psychologists and psychiatrists,

they could see that no actual

how far they thought participants

shocks had been administered.

Ordinary people, simply

would go when asked to administer

doing their jobs, and

the electric shocks. Most people

Feeling obliged to obey

without any particular

thought participants would stop at

Milgram noted several features

hostility on their part,

a level that caused pain, and the

of the experiment that may have

can become agents in a

psychiatrists predicted that, at most,

contributed to such high levels of

terrible destructive process.

one in 1,000 would continue to the

obedience; for example, the fact

highest level of shock. Astonishingly,

that it took place at the prestigious

Stanley Milgram

when the experiment took place,

Yale University gave it credibility.

Milgram found that all 40 of the

In addition, participants believed

participants obeyed commands to

that the study was designed to

administer shocks up to 300 volts.

advance knowledge, and they had

Only five people refused to continue

been assured that the shocks were

at this point; 65 percent of the

painful but not dangerous. Being

participants obeyed the instructions

paid may have increased their

from the reactions and responses

of the “scientist” right to the end,

sense of obligation, as did the fact

of the participants that obeying the

obeying commands to administer

they had volunteered to take part.

“scientist” was violating their own

shocks to the top level of 450 volts.

To test these explanations, Milgram

sense of morality and negatively

Their discomfort at doing so

ran many variations on the study,

affecting them both physically and

was often evident: many showed

but changing the context had only

emotionally, but the pressure to

signs of severe distress, tension,

minor effects on the results.

comply was simply too powerful

and nervousness over the course

Milgram wanted to see if the

to defy in most cases.

of the experiment. They stuttered,

inclination to obey authority figures

This sense of obedience,

trembled, sweated, groaned, broke

can become the major factor in

Milgram felt, comes from the fact

out into nervous laughing fits, and

determining behavior, even in

that people are socialized from a

three people had full-blown seizures.

extreme circumstances. It is clear

very young age (by parents and ❯❯

In every instance of the experiment,

the participant stopped and

questioned it at some point; some

even offered to refund the money

they were paid at the beginning.

Interviews after the experiments

confirmed that, with only a few

exceptions, participants had been

completely convinced that the

“learning experiment” was real.

All participants were fully

debriefed so they understood what

had actually taken place, and they

were asked a series of questions to

By the 1960s, Yale University
was

known to the general public as being

highly prestigious; its authority may

have seemed literally unquestionable

to the participants of Milgram’s study.