The Milgram Experiment is an experiment in social psychology conducted by a resident of the United States of America, Stanley Milgram, in 1963. The psychologist himself studied at Yale. For the first time, Stanley introduced people to his work in his article Submission: A Study of Behavior. A little later, he wrote a book on the same subject, “Submission to authority: an experimental study,” published in 1974.
In the twentieth century, many experimental studies were carried out, but the most striking were psychological experiments. Since the conduct of such studies affects the ethical standards of man, the result obtained becomes the subject of public discussion. That was exactly what Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment was.
Much is known about this experiment, and it is called the most cruel for a reason. The subjects had a veiled task to awaken a sadist in themselves, to learn how to hurt others and not to feel remorse.
Background
Stanley Milgram was born on August 15, 1933 in the Bronx, a dysfunctional area of ​​New York. Refugees and immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in this area. One of these families was Samuel and Adele Milgram with three children who moved to the city during the First World War. Stanley was the middle of the children. He received his first level of education at James Monroe's school. By the way, Philip Zimbardo studied with him in the class, who in the future also became a famous psychologist. After both became successful, Zimbardo began to duplicate Milham's research topics. That this is an imitation or indeed thought in unison is still a mystery.
After graduation, Stanley entered King's College in New York and chose the Department of Political Science. But after some time I realized that this was not his element. In explanation of this, he said that political science does not take into account the opinion and motives of people at the proper level. But he completed his studies, and decided to enter a graduate school in another specialty. While studying at Milgram College, he was seriously interested in the specialty "Social Psychology". He decided to continue studying this specialty at Harvard. But, unfortunately, he was not accepted due to lack of knowledge and experience in that area. But Stanley was very determined, and just did the impossible over the summer: six courses in social psychology took place at three universities in New York. As a result, in 1954 in the fall he made a second attempt to enter Harvard, and he was accepted.
First mentor
During training, he became friends with a guest lecturer, whose name was Solomon Ash. He became an authority and example for Milgram for further growth in the field of psychology. Solomon Ash gained his fame through the study of the phenomenon of conformity. Milgram assisted Asha both in the educational process and in research.
After graduating from Harvard, Stanley Milgram returned to the United States and continued to work at Princeton with his mentor Solomon Ash. It is worth noting the fact that, despite close communication between men, there was no friendly and easy relationship between them. Milgram treated Ash exclusively as an intellectual educator. After a year of work at Princeton, he decided to go into independent work and began to develop a scheme of his own scientific experiment.
The meaning of the experiment
In the brutal experiment of Stanley Milgram, the task was to find out how much suffering ordinary people are willing to inflict on others, if this is part of their job responsibilities. Initially, the psychologist decided to experiment on the people of Germany during the Nazi rule to identify individuals who could participate in the extermination and torture in concentration camps. After Milgram improved his social experiment, he planned to go to Germany, as he believed that the Germans were more prone to obedience. But after the first experiment in New Haven , Connecticut, it became clear that there was no need to go anywhere, and work could continue in the United States of America.
Briefly about Milgram's experiment
The result showed that people are not able to resist the authoritative authorities, who were ordered by order to make other innocent people suffer by passing electric charges through them. The result was such that the position of the authorities and the duty of unquestioning obedience were deeply embedded in the subconscious of the common people, that no one can resist the decrees, even if they contradict the principles and create an internal conflict with the performer.
As a result, this brutal experiment of Milgram was repeated in several more countries: Austria, Holland, Spain, Jordan, Germany and Italy. The result turned out to be the same as in America: people are ready to inflict pain, torture and even death, not only to a stranger, but also to a compatriot, if required by a higher leadership.
Experiment description
Milgram’s “Obedience” experiment was conducted at Yale University. It was attended by over a thousand people. Initially, the essence of the action was simple: to offer a person more and more actions that would contradict his conscience. The key question of experience, accordingly, would be: how far can a person go in hurting another, until submission to the mentor becomes contradictory for him?
The essence of the experiment was presented to the participants in a slightly different light: a study of the effect of physical pain on human memory functions. The experiment involved a mentor (experimenter), a test subject (further a student) and a dummy actor in the role of the second test subject. Then the rules were announced: the student learns a long list of pairs of words, and the teacher checks how accurately the other learned the words. In case of an error, the teacher passes an electric charge through the student’s body. With each error, the charge level increases.
The game started
Before the experiment, Milgram arranged a toss. Two sheets of paper with the words "student" and "teacher" were proposed to be extended to each participant, while the teacher always got the subject. The actor in the role of a student passed to a chair with electrodes drawn to him. Before starting, each was given an exponential shock with a voltage of 45 volts.
The teacher went into the next room and began giving assignments to the student. For each mistake of memorizing a pair of words, the teacher pressed the button, after which the student was shocked. The rules of the Milgram submission experiment were such that with each new error, the voltage increased by 15 volts, and the maximum voltage was 450 volts. As mentioned earlier, the role of the student is played by the actor, who pretends to be shocked. The answer system was designed so that for each correct answer, the actor gave three incorrect ones. Thus, when the teacher read a few words to the end of the first page, the student was already threatened with a blow of 105 volts. After the subject wanted to start the second sheet with a couple of words, the experimenter said to go back to the first one and start again, reducing the current shock to 15 volts. This testified to the seriousness of the experimenter's intentions and that the experiment would not end until all pairs of words were completed.
First contradiction
Upon reaching 105 volts, the student began to demand an end to torture, which gave the subject a lot of remorse and personal contradictions. The experimenter spoke to the teacher several phrases that prompted the continuation of actions. As the charge increased, the actor depicted pain more and more, and the teacher hesitated more and more in his actions.
Climax
At this time, the experimenter was not idle, but said that he takes full responsibility for the safety of the student and for the entire course of the experiment, and that the experiment should be continued. But at the same time, there were no threats or promises of reward towards the teacher.
With each increase in tension, the actor pleaded more and more to stop the torment, to the end he yelled heartbrokenly. The experimenter continued to instruct the teacher using special phrases that were repeated in a circle, each time the subject doubted.
As a result, each experiment was completed. The results of the Stanley Milgram obedience experiment amazed everyone.
Stunning results
According to the results of one of the experiments, it was recorded that 26 out of 40 subjects did not take pity on the student and brought torture to the maximum discharge of current (450 volts). After turning on the maximum voltage three times, the experimenter ordered the experiment to be completed. Five teachers stopped at 300 volts when the victim began to show signs that he could no longer tolerate (knocking on the wall). In addition, the actors stopped giving answers at this mark. Four more people stopped at a voltage of 315 volts, when the student knocked on the wall a second time and did not give an answer. Two subjects stopped at 330 volts when both knocks and responses ceased to arrive. One person at a time stayed at the following levels: 345 in, 360 in, 357 in. The rest came to the end. The results truly scared the people. The subjects themselves were also horrified at what they could get to.
Complete experiment information
Read more about Stanley Milgram’s experiment in Submission to Authority in his book Submission to Authority: An Experimental Study. The book is published in all languages ​​of the world and it will not be difficult to find. Indeed, what is described in it is fascinating and terrifying at the same time. How Stanley Milgram came up with just such an experiment and why he chose just such a cruel way remains a mystery.
The subject of authority subordination, developed by a social psychologist back in 1964, is still sensational and shocking. The book should be read not only by psychologists, but also by people of other specialties.