BEHAVIORAL STUDY OF OBEDIENCE Stanley Milgram 1963 Journal

BEHAVIORAL STUDY OF OBEDIENCE Stanley Milgram (1963), Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67: 371– 378. 1

Obedience is a basic element in the structure of social life n Some system of authority is a requirement of living in a community, and it’s only the isolated person who isn’t forced to respond, through defiance or submission, to the commands of others 2

Obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose Obedience binds people to systems of authority n Recent history and observation in daily life suggest that for may persons, obedience may be a deeply ingrained behavioral tendency, overriding even ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct n 3

Still, obedience serves many productive functions Society is predicated on its existence n Obedience may be ennobling, educative, and refer to acts of charity and kindness, as well as to destruction n 4

General Procedure n n A naïve subject is ordered to administer increasingly more intense electric shocks to a victim in the context of a “learning experiment” (ostensibly to study effects of punishment on memory) A simulated shock generator is used, with 30 clearly marked voltage levels, from 15 to 450 volts n n n Labeled Slight Shock to Danger: Severe Shock Responses of victim, a confederate, are standardized Internal resistances become stronger, and at a certain point the subject refuses to continue n n n Behavior prior to the rupture is considered “obedience” The point of rupture is the act of disobedience/defiance A quantitative value is assigned to the subject’s performance based on the maximum intensity shock he is willing to administer 5

Crux of study is to systematically vary the factors believed to alter the degree of obedience n One may vary: n n n Aspects of the source of command Content and form of command Instrumentalities for its execution Target object General social setting And more 6

Method: Subjects n n 40 males between ages of 20 and 50 from New Haven and surrounding communities Subjects responded to a newspaper ad and direct mail solicitation and believed they were to participate in a study of memory and learning at Yale University A wide range of occupations and education levels is represented Subjects were paid $4. 50 for participation, but told that payment was simply for coming and that the money was theirs no matter what happened after they arrived 7

Method – Personnel and Locale n n Experiment was conducted on grounds of Yale University Role of experimenter was played by a 31 -yr old high school biology teacher n n n Manner was impassive and appearance stern Dressed in grey lab coat Victim played by a 47 -yr old accountant trained for the role n Irish American, found to be mild-mannered and likable 8

Method - Procedure n n n n Cover story Learning task Shock generator Sample shock Shock instructions Preliminary and regular run Feedback from victim Experimenter feedback 9

Method – Dependent Measures n Primary dependent measure for any subject is the maximum shock he administers before he refuses to go further n n May vary from 0 to 30 Subject who breaks off experiment at any point prior to administering the Level 30 shock is termed a defiant subject 10

Results n n n Subjects accept situation Signs of extreme tension Distribution of scores n n n Each of 40 subjects went beyond expected breakoff point No subject stopped prior to Shock Level 20 Of 40 subjects, 5 refused to obey commands beyond 300 volts (Shock Level 20) A total of 14 subjects defied the experimenter 26 subjects obeyed orders to the end 11