Milgram's Obedience to Authority

In the now infamous and contentious series of experiments—aptly named for the Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram—research participants were supposedly recruited for a study on improving the understanding of the effects of punishment on learning.

Acting as teachers, they were told—by the experimenter, the authority—to administer presumably painful shocks to another individual—the learner—in an adjoining room when they answered a question incorrectly during a paired-associate learning test.

Participants started with small voltage amounts and escalated as the number of wrong answers continued. Despite hearing pleas of anguish from the “learner” on the other side—who, of course, was an actor—the subjects still administered what they thought were electric shocks. However, they often appeared uncomfortable. If the teacher hesitated to deliver shocks, the experimenter pushed them to continue, with statements like “The experiment requires that you continue. Please continue."

And if the learner faltered to answer, as was the case after the 300-volt shock, the lack of responding was taken as incorrect. He no longer protested after receiving a 330-volt shock, which suggested that he was physically incapable of responding any further. The demonstration proceeded until the participant absolutely refused to continue or until they had pressed the highest switch, 450-volts, three times.

In one version, Milgram reported that 65% of the participants administered the maximum voltage regardless of the torment they assumed they were inflicting, even if they initially reported that they would never do such harm.

Whether the main driving factors were fear or a desire to appear as being cooperative, participants ultimately thought that they were doing their job, and the authority figure, was responsible for what happened, given his perceived position and expertise.

Depending on the context, social influences—like commands from “above”—can make someone do something against their moral beliefs, especially if their desire to obey is more powerful than their capacity to empathize with the suffering of others.