The Stanley Milgram Experiment: Why Ordinary People Commit Atrocities

In 1961 Stanley Milgram conducted a study to see how far people would go in obeying orders.

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He would pay participants to act in an experiment which they thought was to test memory. The participants were to act as teachers for the experimenter (who acted as the justifiable authority) and would guide the teacher in the situation. A learner would be asked to answer the teachers questions. Both the experimenter and the man being tested as the learner were confederates of Milgram’s experiment. The teacher was to help the learner improve his memory by delivering electric shocks which were to act as the punishment for a mistake. The shocks began as mild but increased with each question until the shocks were potentially lethal. No shocks were actually given; the point was to make the teacher think he was administering shocks to the learner (who was an actor). 

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The machine delivering the shocks was a 30 switch panel that would shock the learner if pressed all the way down. The experimenter tells the teacher (i,e. the participant)  that the learner (i.e. the actor)must respond to the memory questions with the right answer or else he would be shocked. The shocks started at a low level of 15 volts and reached all the way up to 450. 

Before starting the experiment straws would be drawn to see who played the teacher or the learner. Of course, this part was rigged. The teacher would help escort the learner, (a confederate and) a mild-mannered middle-aged man, into another room to be strapped down and hooked up to the shock machine which consisted of an electrode strapped to the learners right wrist. 

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The teacher is shocked with 45 volts, the third switch out of thirty, to give him/her an idea of how much pain the shocks inflict. The experiment then begins with the learner and teacher communicating over an intercom and the experimenter standing right beside the teacher. At first the learner does well making few mistakes but soon the errors increase in numbers and the teacher must start pushing the shock switches all too frequently. As the teacher precedes the learner starts complaining the shocks are starting to hurt. The teacher often looks back at the experimenter and maybe utters a few fraises which the experimenter would respond generically stating “the experiment must go on,” or “continue teacher.” Soon there are errors galore and the teacher finds him/herself in the very high-level shock range. The learner screams: “I can’t stand the pain, let me out of here!” “You have no right to keep me here! Let me out!” “I absolutely refuse to answer any more! Get me out of here! You can’t hold me here! My heart’s bothering me!”

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Many of the participants playing the role of teacher get anxious about the situation refusing to continue but the experimenter insists the participant go on. The experimenter reminds the teacher of his contract and his/her agreement to participate fully (even though the teacher was paid in advance). The experimenter claims full responsibility for the consequences of the teacher’s shocks. Soon after the teacher reaches 300 volts the learner stops answering. The teacher often asks the experimenter to go check on the learner to see if he is alright but the experimenter remains impassive and does not check. Instead the experimenter says to the teacher that if the leaner will not respond to continue with the experiment shocking the learner for every unanswered question. 

As the teacher continues higher and higher there is no sound coming from the intercom or the learner’s chamber. The teacher is constantly told to follow the rules and to keep asking the questions and shocking the wrong and unanswered ones (which is every question at this point). If the teacher does end up shocking the learner at the highest level the experimenter asks the teacher to do it two more times for “good measure.” 

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Before the experiment was preformed Milgram asked a group of forty psychiatrists to estimate the percentage of Americans who would go all the way pushing all 30 switches and shocking the learner at an incredible (and lethal) 450 volts. On average they predicted that less than 1 percent would go all the way to the end. They further included that the average person would only go to 150 volts and that only the sadists would go all the way. 

Unfortunately they couldn’t be more wrong. Two out of every three (65%) of the volunteers pushed all 30 switches all the way up to the maximum shock level of 450 volts. This was often done even though the teachers were clearly uncomfortable doing so over the learners desperate pleas for him/her to stop. Many of the participants were aware that they were hurting or even killing the learner but continued because the experimenter reassured it was his responsibility. Some participants felt trapped and the easiest way out of the situation would be to just hurry up and finish. 

This experiment has been conducted over and over throughout the years. It has been tested on all different ages, sexes, nationalities, and races with the same result. Blind obedience is not a fascist mentality it is part of the basic human condition brought out by situational forces.

To further understand the power of situational forces see Phillip Zimbardo and the Stanford Prison Experiment. 

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