Stanley Milgram Obedience to Authority

obedience

-giving the benefit of the doubt to those in authority -

What was Milgram's main research goal?

-he was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person -he was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities (The Germans during WWII)

Stanley Milgram

-psychologist at Yale Univeristy -he carried out an experiment that focused on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience -he examined justifications for acts of genocide offered by those accused at the World War II, Nuremberg War Criminal trials

What was wrong with Milgram's draw?

-the draw was fixed! so that the participants was always the teacher, and the leaner was one of Milgram's confederates

what was the experiment procedure?

-the participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find who would be the 'learner' and who would be the 'teacher

World War II Nuremberg War Criminal trials

-their defense was often based on "obedience"- that they were just following orders from their superiors

learner

-was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arms

teacher and reseracher

-went into a room next door that contained an electric shock generator and a row of switches from 15 volts to 375 volts to 450 volts

what are the 2 moral requirements?

-you either obey conscience OR you obey authority 1. OBEY 2. Also don't hurt anyone

Milligram found that subjects obediences was highest when...

1) commands were given by an authority figure rather than another volunteer 2) the experiments were done at a prestigious institution 3) the authority figure was present in the room with the subject 4) the learner was in another room 5) the subject did not see other subjects disobeying commands

who were the individuals involved in the experiment?

1) the one running the experiment 2) the subject of the experiment (a volunteer) 3) a confederate (pretending to be a volunteer)

what explains the cruelty in the world? give Milgram's 2 examples

1. Nazi concentration camps 2. My lia massacre

Milligram believes that 2 things must be in place in order for a person to enter the agentic state

1. the person giving the orders is perceived as being qualified to direct other people's behavior they must be seen as legitimate 2. the person being ordered about is able to believe that the authority will accept responsibility for what happens

How many people stopped shocking and hurting people?

1/3

how many obeyed authority and shocked to the end of the experiment?

2/3 of people administered the highest level of shocks

How did Milgram select participants for his experiment?

By newspaper advertising for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale

will X obey even if Y will be hurt?

Where will one stop shocking?

milgram is wrong...

about choosing between conscience and authority

3rd experiment

close the the victim

4th experiment

closest to the victim

as the victims are closer...

its harder to shock them

agentic state

people allow others to direct their actions and then pass off the responsibility for the consequences to the person giving the orders -they act as agents for another person's will -a state of mind -a state of readiness to do what you are told

autonomous state

people direct their own actions, and they take responsibility for the results of those actions

Milligram's confederates

pretended to be a real participant

teacher

role was to give the learner a shock every time they mixed up the word pairs

agency theory

says that people will obey an authority when they believe that the authority will take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

375

severe shock

15 volts

slight shock

Milligram stated that people actually have 2 states of behavior when they re in a social situation

the autonomous state the agent state

What did Milgram tell his forty male volunteer research subjects that they were participating in a study about?

the effects of punishment on learning -all his subjects=the teacher

police officer stand for what?

the general will

1st experiment

victim is invisible (in other room)

when do we expect to see less obedience?

when we are father away from the victim

experimenter

would firmly command the teachers to follow the instructions they had been given

2nd experiment

you can see the victim