Milgram (1963) Procedures

Front 1

Procedure 1

Back 1

When participants arrived at the lab they were greeted by the 'experimenter' and another 'participant', a mild-mannered and likeable 47-year-old accountant, Mr Wallace (both of these men were confederates of Milgram).

Front 2

Procedure 2

Back 2

The selection of who was to play the roles of the ‘teacher’ and the ‘learner’ was rigged – the naïve participant was always assigned to the teacher role and Milgram’s confederate was always assigned the learner role.

Front 3

Procedure 3

Back 3

The learner and teacher were then taken to the experimental room where the learner was strapped into an 'electric chair' apparatus to prevent excessive movement. An electrode was placed on the learner’s wrist, linked to a shock generator in the adjoining room.

Front 4

Procedure 4

Back 4

The teacher was taken to the adjoining room and seated in front of the shock generator. The shock generator was a large machine with 30 switches on it, each showing incremental rises in voltage starting at 15 volts and going up to 450 volts. There were 'shock' labels, starting at 'slight shock' at 15 volts to 'intense shock' at 255 volts and finally 'XXX' at 450 volts, a potentially fatal shock.

Front 5

Procedure 5

Back 5

Once the study began, the teacher was told to administer a shock when the learner gave a wrong answer to a ‘learning task’, and to escalate to a higher level of shock each time, announcing the shock level each time.

Front 6

Procedure 6

Back 6

The learner was told to give approximately three wrong answers to every correct one. The learner was also told to make no comment or protest until the shock level of 300 volts was reached. At this point he should pound on the wall but thereafter make no further comment.

Front 7

Procedure 7

Back 7

The experimenter was trained to give a sequence of four standard ‘prods’ if the teacher hesitated about delivering the shock or asked for guidance:
 ‘Please continue.’
 ‘The experiment requires that you continue.’
 ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue.’
 ‘You have no other choice, you must go on.’

Front 8

Procedure 8

Back 8

After the research was completed, the teacher was thoroughly ‘dehoaxed' and the experimenter reunited the teacher and learner. They were then interviewed about their experience in this study.