The Milgram Experiment Obedience to Authority

Introduction Stanley Milgram – Yale University psychologist Experiments began in July 1961 (Three months after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem) Milgram wanted to answer the question: “Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?”

Eichmann in Jerusalem court. “The Architect of the Holocaust” Transportation Administrator to the Final Solution Managed all trains to transport Jews to ghettos and killing centers 1944 – Sent 430,000 Hungarians to gas chambers after the Final Solution was halted Fled to Argentina Captured in 1960 Hanged in 1962 Eichmann in Jerusalem court.

The Experiment Roles Three people take part in the experiment: “experimenter”, “learner” (“victim”) and “teacher” The “experimenter” – a stern biology teacher dressed in a grey technician’s coat The “learner” – a 47 year old actor The “teacher” – volunteer told he was participating in an experiment in the study of memory and learning in different situations

The Experiment Steps 1. The actor and volunteer choose a slip of paper. 2. Both slips say “teacher” ensuring the volunteer gets the right role 3. The actor claims to have the “learner” slip and they separate into two rooms 4. The “teacher” (volunteer) is given an electric shock as a sample of what the learner would receive 5. The “teacher” is given a list of word pairs to teach the learner

Public Announcement for Experiment

The Experiment Steps Cont. 6. The “teacher” read the word pairs to the “learner” 7. The “teacher” then read the first word of each pair and gave four possible answers (the “learner” indicated his answer by pressing a button) 8. If the answer was incorrect, the “teacher” was to administer an electric shock The voltage would increase 15 volts for each wrong answer If correct, the teacher would read the next word pair

Experiment Diagram

Electric Shock Apparatus & Volunteer

The “Learner’s” Response The “learner” never received the shocks A tape recorder played prerecorded sounds of suffering for each shock level After a number of voltage increases the actor would bang on the wall After several times banging on the wall and complaining about a heart condition, he would stop responding (faking death)

Ending the Experiment If the “teacher” wanted to stop the experiment, the experimenter gave a succession of verbal prods: (1) Please continue. (2) The experiment requires that you continue. (3) It is absolutely essential that you continue. (4) You have no other choice, you must go on. Experiment ended: (1) If the “teacher” wanted to stop after all four prods (2) After the teacher had given the max. 450 volt shock

The “Teacher’s” Responses Some test subjects paused after 135 volts and questioned experiment Some desired to check on the “learner” Most continued after they were assured they would not be held responsible Few subjects began to laugh nervously and show extreme signs of stress

Percentage Results Fourteen Yale senior-year psych majors polled Poll Before Experiment Actual Results Fourteen Yale senior-year psych majors polled Few (average 1.2%) of volunteers would inflict maximum voltage First set of experiments at Yale – 65% (26 of 40) inflicted the maximum voltage Experiment repeated around the world – 61-66%

Other Results None of volunteers who refused to administer final shocks insisted that the experiment itself be terminated None left the room to check the health of the victim Experiment raised questions about the ethics of scientific experimentation 84% of former volunteers were “glad” to have participated

Journal 1. Do you believe that the Milgram experiment was ethical? 2. Were you surprised by the results? 3. Can you better understand how and why Germans and others did not do more to stop the Holocaust? Do you believe that those that did not help the Jews were accomplices to the Final Solution?