In 1974 Stanley Milgram conducted a study that tested the obedience of ordinary people. The experiment began with three participants:
• The “Proctor” (Milgram’s helper who controlled the experiment)
• The “Learner” (The accomplice to the experiment who acted as though he was being shocked upon giving an incorrect answer)
• The “Teacher” (This was the unknowing true subject of the experiment. He was the person who thought that he was truly administering shocks to the learner upon receiving an incorrect response)
Before Milgram’s experiment even started, jobs were designated to each man. The test experiment was always the “teacher” and Mr. Wallace was always the “learner.” Afterwards, both the leaner and the teacher were taken to an adjacent …show more content…
He wanted to prove that German people are more obedient than Americans but from the findings of his experiment he did not achieve the results he was hoping for. In his experiment 65% of the test subjects would continue to the maximum of 450 volts (Mcleod, 2007). Because his results were not what he expected, he now had to look at it from another perspective. He began to wonder if people would willingly obey orders from authority even if it meant killing people. Throughout history people involved with mass genocide have pleaded that they were just following orders. The Nuremberg Trials is a prime example of that. The purpose of the Nuremberg Trials was to bring punishment to Nazi War Criminals who had persecuted innocent people (those who did not fit Hitler’s ideal Aryan race). Many men who were put on trial claimed that they were just obeying orders. Allied leaders of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed that high ranked Nazis in the military needed to take some blame for their actions. Originally Joseph Stalin proposed an execution of 50,000 to 100,000 German Staff officers. The British Prime Minister also talked of the execution of Nazi officers especially high ranking Nazis. American Leaders were able to persuade The Soviet Union and Great Britain to hold trials as a more effective way to determine if the person is guilty or not. Two trials were held: the first one was called the Major War Criminals’ Trial which lasted from 1945 to 1946. The second one was called the Subsequent Trials from 1946 to 1949. Six Nazi organizations and twenty four individuals were accused of war crimes in the first trial. The Subsequent Trials indicted 185 people for various reasons such as crimes against humanity, medical experiments, Judges and Lawyers. Twelve of the one hundred eighty-five received the death penalty while another eight were sentenced to life in prison.
• The “Proctor” (Milgram’s helper who controlled the experiment)
• The “Learner” (The accomplice to the experiment who acted as though he was being shocked upon giving an incorrect answer)
• The “Teacher” (This was the unknowing true subject of the experiment. He was the person who thought that he was truly administering shocks to the learner upon receiving an incorrect response)
Before Milgram’s experiment even started, jobs were designated to each man. The test experiment was always the “teacher” and Mr. Wallace was always the “learner.” Afterwards, both the leaner and the teacher were taken to an adjacent …show more content…
He wanted to prove that German people are more obedient than Americans but from the findings of his experiment he did not achieve the results he was hoping for. In his experiment 65% of the test subjects would continue to the maximum of 450 volts (Mcleod, 2007). Because his results were not what he expected, he now had to look at it from another perspective. He began to wonder if people would willingly obey orders from authority even if it meant killing people. Throughout history people involved with mass genocide have pleaded that they were just following orders. The Nuremberg Trials is a prime example of that. The purpose of the Nuremberg Trials was to bring punishment to Nazi War Criminals who had persecuted innocent people (those who did not fit Hitler’s ideal Aryan race). Many men who were put on trial claimed that they were just obeying orders. Allied leaders of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed that high ranked Nazis in the military needed to take some blame for their actions. Originally Joseph Stalin proposed an execution of 50,000 to 100,000 German Staff officers. The British Prime Minister also talked of the execution of Nazi officers especially high ranking Nazis. American Leaders were able to persuade The Soviet Union and Great Britain to hold trials as a more effective way to determine if the person is guilty or not. Two trials were held: the first one was called the Major War Criminals’ Trial which lasted from 1945 to 1946. The second one was called the Subsequent Trials from 1946 to 1949. Six Nazi organizations and twenty four individuals were accused of war crimes in the first trial. The Subsequent Trials indicted 185 people for various reasons such as crimes against humanity, medical experiments, Judges and Lawyers. Twelve of the one hundred eighty-five received the death penalty while another eight were sentenced to life in prison.