Week Two: The Milgram Experiment

     Another experiment similar to the Stanford experiment was the Milgram experiment that was completed in 1963 by Stanley Milgram. The goal of this experiment was to explain why and for what reasons the ordinary citizens of Germany could have participated in the mass extermination of millions of Jews. The experiment was conducted by a group of randomly selected people who played the role of teachers. The experiment exposed that people often obey orders even if it inflicts the innocent with pain. The experiment showed the effect of authority on obedience; people obey whenever ordered even if it hurts other.

      A group of recruited people were told that the study would show the effects of punishment on learning ability. The people were offered cash for participating and all of them chose to be the teacher. The teachers were asked to give electric shocks to the learners, who were Milgram’s assistance, whenever they made a mistake in memorizing the words given to them. The shocks ranged from 15 volts, slight shock, to 450 shocks which indicated danger, and severe shock. For each mistake, the voltage was increased until it reached the highest level. Eventually, after 75 volts, the learners (actors) would start complaining and asking to be released. After yelling and pleading to be released, the learners would complain of heart pain. At this point, most of the teachers hesitated to continue giving shocks. However, when ordered to continue, they proceeded with the next question.

     The resulted showed that 65% of the teachers continued giving the electric shocks despite of the learner’s pleads to release them while the rest disagreed to do so. The results showed that ordinary people were willing to inflict others with pain when ordered. To come to the point of ethics, in my opinion, this experiment shouldn’t be considered unethical for several reasons.  First, no one was actually harmed by this experiment. The learners who were actors were already aware of the procedure and were simply pretending to be hurt as the level of shocks went up. The result of the experiment showed the true nature of human beings and is something useful that may be used as reference in any related future experiments. Although today, the experiment wouldn’t be allowed because the teachers were deceived. However, according to my thinking, it’s not an important point. As mentioned in the book, people tend to behave unnaturally when they know that they are being observed and therefore, not telling them about the experiment is not deceiving them but simply practicing an experiment. Although, aftermath, the teachers could have experienced some emotional distressed, they should have been warned beforehand so that they could have the chance of changing their minds before the experiment began. Finally, at the end of the experiment, the truth was revealed to the teachers and therefore, ethics shouldn’t be a major issue. 

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I used the below site for some additional details that weren't given in the book. 

http://cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article35.htm