Milgram Case Study

Milgram conducted experiments to discover how the average person would engage in destructive obedience and to what extent they would obey. The patriciates were unaware that they were being observed for obedience. The patriciates were told the study was to examine how punishment plays a role in a student’s learning. The participants as the teachers, were instructed to read a list of words, that the student was supposed to remember and repeat back the list. During the experiment, there was a biology teacher dressed in a lab coat that instructed the participant to deliver a shock to the student every time a mistake was made. The shocks starting out with a 15 volt and increased all the way up to a 450 volt shock. The teacher was unable to see the

The biology teacher stood close by, looking official in his lab coat, administering the participants. The participants perceived him as an authority figure. Although, the authority figure never seemed anything other than clam and polite; there was still a feeling of pressure, stress, and intimidation. The administrator asked the participants to “please continue.” (Assistive Technology, 2015). Some of the participants verbally complained they were uncomfortable continuing .I feel that even though the authority figure did not threaten the participants that he would take their money; they may have obeyed for the fact they are being paid to do a job and this authority figure is their boss. Would you disobey your boss? Most likely not. In a real job, you have the fear, “if I do not obey my boss, I could lose my job,” and that in itself is intimidating. Another factors that contributed to the obedience was the “psychological distance”, not being able to see the student, the participant’s ability to continue the unmoral actions being asked of them were increased. Also, starting out at a 15 volt shock, may not sound so bad, the request to read and shock started immediately so there was no time to think about the actions being committed. “Once you begin to obey, it 's like beginning to slide down the slope. The farther you go, the more momentum you gain, and the harder it is to stop obeying.” (Pastorino, 2013). It’s kind of like “well, I made it this far, I might as well keep going, it’s almost