Summary Of The Perils Of Obedience By Diana Baumrind

The well-known general, Robert E. Lee once claimed, "Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character." What initiates normal people to make unthinkable decisions? The article, "The Perils of Obedience" by Stanley Milgram, contains an experiment that demonstrates how far people will go and continue to obey authority. Milgram conducts tests using random subjects, actors, and a fake electric chair; he gives the subjects the power to increase voltage and potentially "harm" the actors (78). Milgram, surprisingly, finds out from his data that the majority of the subjects administered dangerously high voltage (85). He received a large amount of negative feedback saying his experiments were unethical and inappropriate. "Review of Stanley Milgram's Experiments on obedience" by Diana Baumrind mainly critiques Milgram's ethical stance in the experiment by stating that his manner is detached and objective (Baumrind 91). She quotes information …show more content…
Diana Baumrind argues that a laboratory setting and an instructor wearing a white lab coat is unsuitable for the experiment. She fairly suggests that the setting could cause the subject anxiety and throw off the data (90). In contrast to Baumrind, The author of "Milgram's Obedience Experiments", Rodrigo, states that it is necessary to study human obedience. Despite many critiques, Milgram's experiment was helpful for scientists to learn more about human nature (Rodrigo). Unlike Rodrigo, the authors of "The Ecological Validity of Laboratory Deceptions" support Baumrind by effectively pointing out Milgram's flaws in that his procedure could make some subjects skeptical. They persuade that the manner of the experiment could give clues to the people being subjects and the set-up being fake (Orne, Martin T., Holland, Charles H.). The Milgram experiment has been replicated many times using different procedures to eliminate