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Figure 19.12 Milgram’s Experiment
(a) In Milgram’s experiment on obedience, the “learner” is connect- ed to the shock apparatus. (b) Milgram explains the procedure to the “teacher.” (c) This participant refuses to administer shocks any further and angrily rises in protest. (d) Milgram explains the truth about the experiment. (© 1965 by Stanley Milgram. From the film Obedience. Distributed by New York University Film Library.) Why did many participants continue to administer shocks to the learner?
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560 Chapter 19 / Group Interaction
Milgram’s participants could have walked out at any time; they had nothing to lose by leaving. Nevertheless, social conditioning for obey- ing legitimate authorities is so strongly ingrained that people often lack the words or the ways to do otherwise. Getting up and leaving would have violated powerful unwritten rules of acceptable social behavior.
Milgram’s experiment is important because it questions so many dif- ferent aspects of human behavior. The experiment also raised questions about the ethics of some psychological experiments. How would you feel if you had been one of Milgram’s participants? How would you feel if you had been deceived into engaging in hurtful behavior? Since the experiment, the APA has changed its ethical standards for experiments. Today all experiments, especially those that have potential to cause psychological harm, are carefully screened by research committees. Informed consent prior to the experiment and complete disclosure of all design details after an experiment are absolute rights of participants in modern-day psychological studies.