Stanley Milgram's Psychological Experiment on Obedience of Authority

As survivors of World War II are quickly moving on into memory, and the information revolution facilitates a modern society of well educated, less “gullible” individuals, the world of fascism and the ideology of racial hatred is moving farther and farther into the past. We’ve all seen the history channel videos showing images of death and destruction, complete with bulldozers pushing corpses into mass graves, but that seems like another time, right? Of course, people wouldn’t do that now. We’ve all learned from the past. Or have we? Allow me to share with you what may be the most frightening results of any scientific or psychological experiment ever performed. No, it’s not something from the Nazi experiments of doctor Mengele or an underground government mind control session. It doesn’t involve genetic mutation or chemical manipulation. It was performed by a psychologist at Yale University, Stanley Milgram. Outside of the psychology community that name might ring a little obscure, but the results of his experiments will burn in your mind far longer then it takes to read this article. In his quest to find a reason for the holocaust, Stanley Milgram devised a simple experiment. The premise was to test how much pain a normal individual would inflict on another person if directed to do so by authority. The experiment began in July of 1961 at Yale University. A newspaper ad ran calling for paid participants to be involved in a psychology experiment centered on the "study of memory.” The people who responded were instructed that the experiment would measure the result of punishment in learning. He or she was then taken into a room with another “volunteer” who was actually a paid actor. To begin with, both the volunteer and the actor were given 45 volt shocks to test the equipment. They were told it would sting only slightly. Lots were drawn and the actor was chosen as the “learner.” The real volunteer was “randomly” picked to be the “teacher.” The “learner” was strapped into a chair and electrodes were placed on their arm. The “teacher” was brought into an adjoining room and set in front of a large control panel. A large number of switches with various voltage labels and warnings were on this control panel. A researcher stood behind the “teacher” and directed them to up the voltage and deliver shocks to the “learner.” As the voltage was increased the “learner” began to complain and groan in discomfort. They eventually began screaming in pain and demanding to quit the experiment. The researcher continued to direct the “teacher” to increase the voltage. After awhile the “learner’s” screams turned to silence. Still the researcher commanded the “teacher” to up the voltage and to continue administering shocks. The results shocked the psychological community. As it turned out, the majority of people tested (“teachers”) continued to shock the “learner” to a level which would have been fatal if the voltage had been real. Sure they were nervous and uncomfortable; they even argued and pleaded with the researcher to let them stop.But in the end the majority of subjects obeyed. These people were not monsters, mad men, sadists, child molesters, perverts or hate mongers. They were average Americans from all walks of life from teachers and business people, to nurses and cashiers. Like Nazi Germany and many other infamous regimens, normal people deferred their morality and individual responsibility to an authority figure. In the words of Stanley Milgram himself, “Even Eichmann (high ranking Nazi) was sickened when he toured the concentration camps, but he had only to sit at a desk and shuffle papers. At the same time the man in the camp who actually dropped Cyclon-b into the gas chambers was able to justify his behavior on the ground that he was only following orders from above. Thus there is a fragmentation of the total human act; no one is confronted with the consequences of his decision to carry out the evil act. The person who assumes responsibility has evaporated. Perhaps this is the most common characteristic of socially organized evil in modern society.” (Obedience, Stanley Milgram) This experiment has been repeated many times in a multitude of different settings and countries. They all had essentially the same result: the majority of people failed. The threat of horrible atrocities and unimaginable violence still looms over us. Stanley Milgram presented the world with a disturbing fact: as long as people defer their individual morality and responsibility to authority, they are capable of killing someone just because they were told to do so.