The aim was to understand the extent of compliance towards obedience, particularly relating the notion of inflicting harm on another being under the instructions of an authority figure. An ecological application of the Nazis behaviour during WWII.
Stanley Milgram an American social psychologist devised an experiment which operationalized obedience. The original intention to test the German population and correlate the results to the holocaust was abandoned due to fundamental ethical issues. However, Milgram then conducted the initial experiment in America, using paid volunteers, whom were all male, but ranged in age and profession.
Deceived into thinking they were taking part in a learning experiment; the participants were assigned the fixed role of teacher. This involved delivering electric shocks to a “leaner” in another room each time they got a question wrong. The participant was unaware that the “learner” was in fact a confederate and …show more content…
When the location was alternated to a rundown office building the number of people prepared to deliver the potentially fatal shock lowered to 47%. The proximity of the individuals also had an effect. When the teacher and learner were in the same room, the number decreased to only 40%. A closer proximity and personal interaction decreased the number to 30% when participants had to hold the learners head to an electrical plate. When the examiner gave orders by phone, the participants felt less pressured to conform to the orders of the experimenter and just 20% complied. Finally, the biggest factor of compliance to obedience appears to be the influence of a uniform and the belief of authority. We`re raised to believe, where there is authority, there’s consequences and when fear of consequences is subliminally removed and the experimenter is played by a member of the public, the number willing deliver 450 volts dropped to just
Stanley Milgram an American social psychologist devised an experiment which operationalized obedience. The original intention to test the German population and correlate the results to the holocaust was abandoned due to fundamental ethical issues. However, Milgram then conducted the initial experiment in America, using paid volunteers, whom were all male, but ranged in age and profession.
Deceived into thinking they were taking part in a learning experiment; the participants were assigned the fixed role of teacher. This involved delivering electric shocks to a “leaner” in another room each time they got a question wrong. The participant was unaware that the “learner” was in fact a confederate and …show more content…
When the location was alternated to a rundown office building the number of people prepared to deliver the potentially fatal shock lowered to 47%. The proximity of the individuals also had an effect. When the teacher and learner were in the same room, the number decreased to only 40%. A closer proximity and personal interaction decreased the number to 30% when participants had to hold the learners head to an electrical plate. When the examiner gave orders by phone, the participants felt less pressured to conform to the orders of the experimenter and just 20% complied. Finally, the biggest factor of compliance to obedience appears to be the influence of a uniform and the belief of authority. We`re raised to believe, where there is authority, there’s consequences and when fear of consequences is subliminally removed and the experimenter is played by a member of the public, the number willing deliver 450 volts dropped to just