Milgram's Obedience Experiment
Summary
TLDRIn 1963, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a groundbreaking experiment at Yale University to explore the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. Participants, believing they were administering electric shocks to a 'learner,' were pressured by an authority figure to continue increasing the voltage despite their discomfort. The study revealed that 65% of participants obeyed orders to administer shocks up to a potentially lethal level. Milgram's findings led to the development of the 'agency theory,' suggesting people enter an 'agentic state' where they obey authority figures, believing the authority will take responsibility for their actions.
Takeaways
- 👨🔬 Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment at Yale University to study obedience to authority and personal conscience.
- 🔍 The experiment was a response to the Nuremberg trials where defendants claimed they were 'just following orders'.
- 📢 Participants were recruited through newspaper ads for a 'learning study', not knowing the true nature of the experiment.
- 👨🏫 The setup involved a 'teacher' and a 'learner', with the latter being an actor and the former being the actual participant.
- ⚡️ The 'teacher' was instructed to administer electric shocks to the 'learner' for incorrect answers, with shock levels escalating.
- 👨🔬 The experimenter, played by an actor, insisted that the 'teacher' continue administering shocks despite objections.
- 📈 65% of participants obeyed the authority figure and administered shocks up to the maximum level of 450 volts.
- 🔁 Milgram conducted 18 variations of the experiment, all yielding similar results about the nature of obedience.
- 🧠 Milgram developed the 'agency theory', suggesting people act autonomously or as agents depending on the presence of authority.
- 🏢 The theory posits that individuals will obey authority figures if they believe those figures will take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
- 👀 The study raises ethical questions about the limits of scientific research and the power dynamics between authority and individuals.
Q & A
Who conducted the famous obedience study in psychology?
-Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, conducted the famous obedience study in psychology.
What was the main focus of Milgram's experiment?
-The main focus of Milgram's experiment was to examine the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience.
What was the historical context that led to Milgram's experiment?
-The historical context was the justifications for acts of genocide offered by those accused at the World War II Nuremberg war criminal trials, where the defense was based on obedience to orders from superiors.
How did Milgram select participants for his experiment?
-Milgram selected participants for his experiment through newspaper advertising, inviting male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale University.
What was the role of the learner in Milgram's experiment?
-The learner in Milgram's experiment was an actor hired to pretend to be a real participant, and he was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arms.
What was the purpose of the electric shock generator in the experiment?
-The electric shock generator was used to administer electric shocks to the learner whenever he made a mistake in recalling the list of paired words during the learning test administered by the teacher.
What were the four prods given by the experimenter to encourage the teacher to continue administering shocks?
-The four prods given by the experimenter were: 1) Please continue. 2) The experiment requires you to continue. 3) It is absolutely essential that you continue. 4) You have no other choice but to continue.
What was the surprising result of Milgram's study regarding obedience to authority?
-The surprising result was that 65% of the participants continued to administer electric shocks up to the highest level of 450 volts when instructed to do so.
How many variations of the study did Milgram conduct, and what were the general outcomes?
-Milgram conducted 18 variations of the study, and all of them yielded similar results, indicating that the findings were not a one-off random occurrence.
What is the agency theory developed by Milgram, and how does it explain the behavior of the participants?
-The agency theory suggests that people have two states of behavior: autonomous, where they direct their own actions, and agentic, where they allow others to direct their actions and pass off responsibility for the consequences. According to this theory, people obey authority when they believe that authority will take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
Outlines
🔬 Stanley Milgram's Obedience Study
The paragraph discusses Stanley Milgram's groundbreaking study on obedience to authority, conducted at Yale University in 1963. Milgram aimed to understand the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience, inspired by the justifications of genocide during the Nuremberg trials where defendants claimed they were just following orders. The experiment involved male participants who were led to believe they were administering electric shocks to a 'learner' (an actor) whenever he made a mistake in a memory test. The shocks were fake, but the participants were unaware, and they were urged by an authority figure (another actor) to continue increasing the shock levels despite their discomfort. The study revealed that 65% of participants were willing to administer shocks up to the maximum level of 450 volts, demonstrating a disturbing willingness to obey authority even at the cost of causing harm. Milgram's findings led to the development of the 'agency theory,' which suggests that people enter an 'agentic state' where they allow others to direct their actions and pass off responsibility for the consequences.
📚 Agency Theory and Obedience
This paragraph delves into the agency theory proposed by Milgram to explain the behavior of participants in his obedience study. According to the theory, individuals will obey an authority figure when they believe that authority will take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. The theory identifies two conditions necessary for a person to enter an 'agentic state': the authority figure must be perceived as legitimate and qualified to direct behavior, and the individual must believe that the authority will accept responsibility for the outcomes. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content by liking the video, subscribing to the channel, and turning on notifications to stay updated with new content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Obedience
💡Stanley Milgram
💡Nuremberg Trials
💡Authority
💡Personal Conscience
💡Experiment
💡Actor
💡Electric Shock Generator
💡Agency Theory
💡Autonomous State
💡Variations
Highlights
Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment at Yale University to study obedience to authority versus personal conscience.
The experiment aimed to understand if the Holocaust perpetrators were merely following orders.
Participants were recruited through newspaper ads for a 'learning study' at Yale.
The setup involved a 'teacher' and a 'learner', with the latter being an actor.
The 'learner' was strapped with electrodes, simulating an electric shock generator.
The 'teacher' was instructed to administer shocks for wrong answers, with voltage increasing for each mistake.
The experimenter, played by an actor, pressured the 'teacher' to continue with the shocks.
The shocks were not real, but the 'teacher' was led to believe they were.
65% of participants administered the maximum 450-volt shock.
All participants continued to at least 300 volts.
Milgram conducted 18 variations of the study, with similar results.
The study challenged the notion of Germans being particularly obedient to authority.
Milgram developed the 'agency theory' to explain the participants' behavior.
The theory suggests people enter an 'agentic state' when obeying authority.
Two conditions must be met for obedience: perceived legitimacy of authority and belief in their responsibility for consequences.
People obey when they believe authority will take responsibility for their actions.
The study's findings have significant implications for understanding human behavior under authority.
Transcripts
one of the most famous studies of
obedience in psychology was carried out
by Stanley Milgram a psychologist at
Yale University he conducted an
experiment focusing on the conflict
between obedience to Authority and
personal conscience in 1963 Milgram
examined justifications for acts of
genocide offered by those accused at the
world war two Nuremberg war criminal
trials their defense sovereign was based
on obedience that they were just
following orders from their superiors
Morgan devised the experiment to answer
the question could it be that those who
committed such atrocities in the
Holocaust were just following orders
could we call them all accomplices
mordrem wanted to investigate where the
Germans were particularly obedient to
authority figures as this was a common
explanation for the Nazi killings new
world war ii mordrem selected
participants for his experiment by
newspaper advertising or male
participants to take part in a study of
learning at Yale University the
procedure was that the participant was
paired with another person and they drew
lots to find out who would be the
learner and who would be the teacher the
draw was fixed at the participant was
always the teacher and the learner was
an actor hired pretending to be a real
participant Valona who was an actor
called mr. wallace was taken into a room
and had electrodes attached to his arms
and the teacher and researcher went into
a room next door that had contained an
electric shock generator and a row of
switches marked from 15 volts which is a
slight shock to 375 volts which had a
danger reading of severe shock and up to
450 volts which is enough to kill a
human being continue please
the experiment requires you continue
teacher please continue
what disciplines were comprised of 40
males aged between 20 and 50 whose job
ranged from unskilled to professional
they were paid four and a half dollars
just for turning up to the study at the
beginning of the experiment they were
introduced to the other participants
which was the actor taking on the role
as the learner the experimenter who was
also an actor was dressed in a grey lab
coat played by an actor not morkrum
himself two rooms in the air laboratory
were used one for the learner with an
electric chair and another for the
teacher and the experimenter with an
electric shock generator the learner mr.
Wallace was structured chair by
electrodes after he had learned a list
of ped words given to him to learn the
teacher tests and by naming wood and
then asking the learner to recall its
part now pay from a list of four
possible choices the teacher is told to
administer an electric shock every time
the learner made a mistake the learner
gave mainly wrong answers on purpose and
for each of these the teacher gave him
an electric shock when the teacher
refused to administer shock the
experimenter was to give a series of
orders and products to ensure that they
continued there were four prods and if
one was not obeyed then the experimenter
who was called mr. Williams read out the
next prod and so on the four prods were
firstly please continue secondly the
experiment requires you to continue
three it is absolutely essential
you continue for you have no other
choice but to continue so what were the
results of the study
Morgan Barnett sixty-five percent almost
two-thirds of the participants the
participants who played the role as the
teachers administering the electric
shock continue to the highest levels of
450 volts all the participants continued
to at least 300 volts Morgan did more
than one experiment in fact he carried
out 18 variations of the study
all with similar results so this can't
be taken as once off random and a non
occurring event all he did was alter the
situation to see how this affected
obedience from the results of the study
nor groom developed theory called the
agency theory
Morgan explained the behavior of his
participants by suggesting that people
have two states of behavior when they
are in a social situation the first is
the autonomous state people direct their
own actions and they take responsibility
for the results of those actions then
there is the agentic state people allow
others to direct their actions and then
pass off the responsibility for those
consequences to the person giving the
orders in other words they act as agents
for another person's wool mordrem
suggested that two things must be in
place for a person to enter this Jenica
state firstly the person giving the
orders is perceived as being qualified
to direct other people's behavior that
is they are seen as a legitimate source
of authority secondly the person being
ordered is able to believe that the
authority will accept responsibility for
what happens agency theory stipulates
that people will obey an authority when
they believe that that authority will
take responsibility for the consequences
of their actions and that's all for
today's video I hope you found it
interesting if you did give the video a
like and if you wants more types of
videos like this subscribe to the
channel and remember to turn
notifications on otherwise you will
never know when a new video is posted
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