Behavioral Study Of Obedience By Stanley Milgram Summary

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STANLEY MILGRAM’S ARTICLE ON BEHAVIORAL STUDY OF OBEDIENCE The article “Behavioral Study of Obedience” is authored by Stanley Milgram, and was published in the Abnormal and Social Psychology journal, a professional peer reviewed journal. The article is based on a scientific experimental research conducted by Stanley Milgram at Yale University. The article describes a laboratory procedure for the behavioral study of obedience. The study involves the administering of more severe punishment through shocks to a learning victim in the context of learning process. Following a brief but clear introduction to the key variables of interest …show more content…

Their prediction is that only a minute number of participants will go through the highest shocking volts (the range was from zero to 3 out of 100, with an average of 1.2). Since most subjects were convinced that the experiment is to study the effects of punishment on memory, they believe that the experimental situation is real. The subjects also believe that they were inflicting pain on the victim every time they administer a shock volt. Although the subjects were enlighten about the procedure, and what is required of them, the aspect of the false identity of the victim was unknown. None of them was aware that the learner is a trained confederate of the experiment. Therefore, the subject’s idea about the experiment being real creates emotional discomfort in behavior and surprising genuine observational results. Twenty-six subjects obeyed the experimental commands fully by administering the highest level of shock though many were very uncomfortable doing so. Fourteen broke off the experiment after the learning refuses to participate further (Milgram, …show more content…

The article support the idea of Aristotle that “we know reality through our perceptions and learn through our sensory experiences” (Ballantyne, Hull, Licht, 9). This means that environmental factors can also influence human behavior just as heredity. For instance, the subjects in the Milgram experiment perceive the experiment to be real base on what they were told, and also their obedience to experimental commands. Even though they were anticipating on breaking off from the experiment, they still go through with it because they have been instructed to by the experimenter to

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