Obedience to authority: Milgram‘s experiment

Résumé du document

Stanley Milgram conducted experiments to determine where submission to authority ends and where people's responsibility begins . The most important consequence of submission to authority: loss of the sense of responsibility. So, he intended to check whether people would prefer to obey a wrong decision taken by a legitimate authority than disturb the social structure. The experiments began in July 1961, a year after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. The participants were told that they will participate in an experiment to test the effects of punishment on learning behavior. If at any time, the subject indicated his desire to halt the experiment he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter.

In one variation, participants received instructions from the experimenter only by telephone. In another, participants had to physically hold the learner's arm onto a shock plate. In another, women were used as participants (all of Milgram's other experiments used only men). Obedience did not differ significantly. Milgram also combined the power of authority with that of conformity, by joining 1 or 2 additional "teachers" (actors actually).

Extraits

[...] According to you, did they feel responsible or not? Do you think that a rigid hierarchy may always lead to atrocities like that? 200px-Freedom4bush < number > The example of democracy In the democracy, people are supposed to be free, and to contribute to the government's decisions However, there is an amazing experiment that shows that it is not really exact. < number > Bibliography Book: Stanley Milgram, 1974: Obedience to Authority . [...]

[...] The experience of authority figures as trustworthy and legitimate. A gradual increase in the demands of the researcher. An agentic state of participant (they were able to devolve responsibility onto researcher). The desire to be loyal to the experimenter and to avoid any conflict the difficulty of transforming convictions and values into acts < number > Why are people so obedient? The results of these variants showed the allegiance and conformity to the group as a force almost as powerful as the authoritative experimenter. [...]

[...] However, the downside of the army is that often leads to abuses, especially in war A good example is the one of the US army which tortured prisoners in the prison of Guantanamo or in Iraq. People received orders to torture prisoners, nevertheless, nobody wants to be held responsible for it < number > The example of the US army F2004052010223800000F2004051409405100000 What do you think about these photos? 200px-AbuGhraibAbuse05[1] < number > The example of US army in Iraq Do you think that the US soldiers in Iraq were in the same situation as the Milgram experiment? [...]

[...] According to you, how many people would be ready to go until the end of the experiment (450 volts)? < number > The results Even psychologists unanimously believed that less than of the subjects would administer the maximum 450 volts shock. Many participants continued to give shocks despite please for mercy from the actor. Some continue after being assured that they will not be held responsible. < number > The results pershock (27 out of 40) of experimental participants administered the experiment's final 450-volt shock. [...]

[...] < number > In the experiment the teacher (subject) asks questions to the learner (actor) who is strapped onto a chair and when the learner is wrong he receives a fake electro-shock collectif4[1] < number > The experiment Milgram_experiment The experimenter persuades the participant to give what the participant believes are painful electric shocks to another participant who is actually an actor. < number > The experiment If at any time, the subject indicates his desire to halt the experiment he is given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter, such as: Please continue, The experiment requires you to continue, go on. It is essential that you continue. You have no choice, you must continue. If the subject still wishes to stop after all four successive verbal prods, the experiment is halted. [...]