Milgram Experiment

Milgram's experiment is the common name of experiments carried out in the years 1961-1962 by the American social psychologist Stanley Milgram (born 1933 - died 1984).

The aim of these experiments was to determine to what extent so-called "ordinary people" can yield to pressure from power and authority and, consequently, commit immoral, criminal or even criminal acts. In 1961, when Stanley Milgram was doing research at Yale University, the high-profile trial of Adolf Eichmann, a German war criminal, one of the main organizers of the Holocaust, began in Israel. Milgram, who himself was a Jew by descent, studied authoritarianism and totalitarianism, seeking, among other things, the answer to the question of what prevented "ordinary people" from resisting Nazi pressure and perpetrating unimaginable crimes, explaining that only "They were following orders." Milgram decided to test in his own environment to what extent people are susceptible to authoritarian pressure. This was the genesis of these experiments, carried out for the first time in the adapted premises of his own Yale University.

The course of the experiment has been described many times and belongs to the classics of the subject. The organizers of the experiment first published a press release announcing that they were looking for people interested in paid participation (the salary was supposed to be $ 4.5) in a study on the impact of penalties on the learning process. Participants in the study were of different sex, age, race, education, etc. Each person qualified for the study was individually invited to the room where the experimenter informed them that they would act as a "teacher". Then the person who was to act as the "student" entered the room. The experimenter introduced himself to the "teacher" and "student" and gave further instructions. The "teacher", sitting in front of a special apparatus for applying electric shocks, was supposed to read the words in pairs to the "student" and ask him to repeat them. During the experiment, the "student" was to be in the adjacent room ("the teacher and the" student "did not see each other during the experiment) and sit on the chair. There were electric wires attached to the body of the "student", connected to the electrical apparatus in the room where the "teacher" remained. For each incorrect answer, the "teacher" was to give the "student" an increasingly powerful electric shock, ranging from 15 V to a maximum shock of 450 V. At the same time, the experimenter assured both parties that the applied electrical stimuli did not pose any threat to the health and life of the "student".

In fact, the entire study was a hoax. "The Student" was the experimenter's assistant, a hired actor; his task was to often make mistakes and incorrectly respond to orders given by the "teacher" from the next room. Also, all the electrical appliances were dummy; The "pupil" was only supposed to act as if he were actually subjected to electric shocks. The experimenter supervising the study encouraged the "teacher" (as previously agreed) to give the "student" ever stronger electric shocks for each incorrect answer. As it turned out, most of the participants of the experiment gave "students" further electric shocks, even when screams and protests from an electric shock were heard from the neighboring room, the sounds of banging legs against the wall and other signals clearly indicating that the "student" was experiencing pain and suffering. All the time the experimenter (acting in the role of a scientist) reassured the bewildered participants of the experiment that the situation was under control, there was no danger and that electric shocks should be continued to the unintelligible "student".

In one of the first experimental session, out of 40 participants of the experiment, only 5 people stopped applying electrical stimuli, against the experimenter's orders, when they heard the screams and stomping of the "student" (this took place when applying a 300 V shock). As many as 26 participants of the experiment applied the maximum stimulus of 450 V to the "student" and apparently they were ready to continue the shaking, if not for the fact that the experiment was interrupted at this point. Stanley Milgram conducted a number of similar experimental sessions; Nearly 1,000 anonymous residents of Connecticut took part in them: Yale students, residents of New Haven, where the university is located, and then residents of the largest state city of Bridgeport, to which at some point Milgram decided to move his experimental laboratory. After summarizing the results of all sessions, it turned out that over 2/3 of the participants gave the "students" the strongest electric shocks during the experiment, just because they were instructed by the experimenter (scientist, authority).

Milgram's experiment aroused a lot of emotions and controversy in the research community, mainly related to the allegations of violating elementary ethical principles of conducting this type of research. Regardless of the criticism, this experiment, with various modifications, was continued in the following years by other scientists, also outside the United States, with unfortunately bringing equally pessimistic results and results. The Milligram Experiment has become one of the most famous experimental research in the history, along with the equally famous "Stanford Prison Experiment", carried out in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo. It is also worth mentioning that Milgram and Zimbardo have known each other since the 1940s, as schoolmates, they attended the same James Monroe high school in the Bronx, New York (by the way, it must have been a good year for psychologists). social).