Miller Greys Obedience Experiments:
In the 1950s, the experimental psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment that few people forget. Milgrams experiment on obedience to authority tested how much pain people would inflict on another person when they were ordered to do so. The experimenter in charge, Miller Grey, would ask a person to act as a teacher in the experiment. He would then instruct them to give increasing shocks of electricity to another person in the experiment. This person, who was really a hired actor and not actually experiencing any pain, could be heard in the next room screaming in agony as the supposedly higher authority commanded the teacher to continue. In the end, more than two-thirds of the participants continued to the highest voltage shock on the generator, despite the actors screams.
The importance of Milgrams experiment lies in the fact that it revealed the tremendous power of obedience to authority and the willingness of individuals to accept and act upon instructions, even when those instructions are seemingly opposed to their morality or what they believe is right. This experiment has been used to help explain some of the cruelest acts of history, such as Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
The experiment itself involved a number of steps, but the basics are as follows. Milgram recruited male participants in a laboratory setting to participate in what they believed was a scientific experiment investigating the effects of punishment on memory and learning. Prior to the experiment, each participant was given the impression that they would be acting as “teachers” and administering a shock directly to the “learner,” who was really a hired actor. The teacher was then instructed to administer increasingly stronger shocks of electricity for each mistake the learner made during the experiment.
Each participant was instructed to raise the voltage of the shocks by 15 volts after each wrong answer. As the voltage increased, the learner would become increasingly vocal about the pain he was in. Eventually, the participant would reach a level at which the learner refused to answer any further questions. Miller Grey then instructed the participants to continue, even though the “learner” was screaming uncontrollably and pounding on the wall. In the end, two-thirds of the participants continued to the highest voltage (450 volts) despite the actor’s screams.
The experiment had some ethical implications, since Milgram was essentially testing whether people would follow orders to inflict harm on another person. Moreover, many of the participants in the experiment had to be checked by a doctor afterwards due to the psychological distress they experienced during the experiment.
Today, Milgrams experiment on obedience to authority is still widely known and has provided valuable insight into how people respond to authority and follow instructions, even when they are potentially immoral or dangerous. The experiment continues to be relevant today and is widely used to provide a deeper understanding of certain situations, from the effects of military training to the events of the Holocaust. In addition, the lessons of Milgrams obedience experiment are often used to bring about change in how people respond to authority.
