Milgram experiment
Study measuring obedience to authority via fake electric shocks.
The Milgram Experiment was a series of social psychology experiments conducted in the early 1960s by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. The study aimed to measure the willingness of participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience, specifically by administering what they believed were electric shocks to another person. The experiments began in August 1961, three months after the start of the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, and Milgram devised the study to explore the psychology of genocide and whether individuals like Eichmann could validly claim they were "just following orders." In the procedure, three individuals took part in each session: an experimenter in charge, a "teacher" who was the actual subject, and a "learner" who was an actor and confederate. The teacher was led to believe they were assisting in a study of memory and learning, testing the effect of punishment. After drawing slips to determine roles (both slips read "teacher," ensuring the actor became the learner), the learner was strapped into a fake electric chair in an adjacent room. The teacher received a sample shock from the generator to experience the supposed pain. The teacher then read word pairs to the learner; for each incorrect answer, the teacher was instructed to administer a shock, increasing in 15-volt increments from 15 to 450 volts. The generator had verbal markings from "Slight Shock" to "Danger: Severe Shock." In reality, no shocks were delivered; the actor played pre-recorded sounds of discomfort, screams, and pleas for mercy, and at 300 and 315 volts banged on the wall before falling silent. If the teacher hesitated, the experimenter gave a series of verbal prods: "Please continue," "The experiment requires that you continue," "It is absolutely essential that you continue," and "You have no other choice; you must go on." The first version of the study unexpectedly found that every participant went up to 300 volts, and 65% continued to the full 450 volts. Milgram first described the research in a 1963 article and later in his 1974 book. While the experiment was repeated globally with fairly consistent results, both its interpretations and applicability to the Holocaust remain disputed.
- field
- Social psychology
- known_for
- Measuring obedience to authority through fake electric shocks
- year
- Early 1960s
- institution
- Yale University
- researcher
- Stanley Milgram
Lore & Background
Milgram devised his psychological study to explain the psychology of genocide and answer the contemporary question of whether Eichmann and accomplices in the Holocaust could validly claim that they were just following orders. Three individuals took part in each session: the experimenter, the teacher (the true subject), and the learner (an actor). The teacher was led to believe they were assisting in a study on memory and the effect of punishment, with payment guaranteed regardless of the outcome. The teacher and learner drew slips to determine roles, but both slips read "teacher," ensuring the actor always became the learner. The learner was strapped into what appeared to be an electric chair in an adjacent room, and the teacher received a sample shock from the generator to experience the supposed stimulus. The teacher then read word pairs to the learner; for each incorrect answer, the teacher administered a fake shock, increasing in voltage by 15-volt increments from 15 to 450 volts. The generator had verbal markings from "Slight Shock" to "Danger: Severe Shock." In reality, no shocks were delivered; the actor simulated pain using pre-recorded sounds, beginning with audible protests and banging on the wall, progressing to screams and pleas for mercy, and falling silent at the highest voltages. If the teacher wished to halt, the experimenter gave specific verbal prods, such as "The experiment requires that you continue," escalating to "You have no other choice; you must go on." The experiments unexpectedly found that every participant went up to 300 volts, and 65% continued to the full 450 volts.
Reader's Guide
The Milgram Experiment is significant for its unexpected demonstration of high levels of obedience to authority, even when it conflicted with personal conscience. Before conducting the experiment, Milgram polled Yale psychology majors, colleagues, and psychiatrists, all of whom predicted that very few subjects would administer the maximum voltage. While the experiment was repeated many times around the globe with fairly consistent results, both its interpretations as well as its applicability to the Holocaust are disputed. The study remains a landmark in social psychology, highlighting the tension between individual morality and obedience to authority.
Did You Know?
- Before the experiment, Milgram polled fourteen Yale University senior-year psychology majors, who predicted that an average of only 1.2 out of 100 subjects would administer the maximum voltage.
- Every participant paused the experiment at least once to question it, and 14 of the 40 subjects showed definite signs of nervous laughing or smiling.
- The experiment was devised to explain the psychology of genocide and answer whether Nazi war criminals could validly claim they were just following orders.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Milgram experiment?
The Milgram experiment is a landmark social psychology study carried out in the early 1960s by Stanley Milgram at Yale University. It is best known for testing how far ordinary people will go when an authority figure instructs them to act against their own moral instincts.
What are Milgram experiment's powers/role?
Its central function is measuring human obedience: participants were told to deliver what they believed were real electric shocks to another person, simply because a lab-coated experimenter told them to keep going. The setup deliberately pitted personal conscience directly against institutional authority.
Why is Milgram experiment important?
It fundamentally reshaped how psychologists think about conformity and the 'banality of evil,' demonstrating that situational pressure from an authority figure can override individual moral judgment far more often than previously assumed. It remains one of the most cited and debated studies in the entire field of social psychology.
Who created Milgram experiment and where was it conducted?
Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, designed and ran the original series of sessions in the early 1960s. The work took place in Yale's psychology laboratories and has since been replicated and adapted in numerous settings around the world.
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