Milgram Experiment Essay

Milgram #1
Factors such as institutional authority, people’s attitude change after the experiment, participants’ interaction with the experimenters or the confederates may play an important role in the results of Milgram’s experiment. People or even social psychologists can also be vulnerable to the situational factors and thus conform or obey.
To begin with, the study was conducted in a prestigious university (Yale University). People may trust that the experimenters are competent and reputable and know what they are doing (Milgram, 1963). We tend to obey orders from people we think is recognized as the authority (McLeod, 2007). People also tend to turn to the ones with more expertise or knowledge as a guide in an ambiguous situation (Aronson,

The participants were paid to do the experiment even though they had the right to withdraw and still get their money. However, they did not. A few theories can explain their behavior. First of all, cognitive dissonance theory explains our attitudes change due to our motivation to maintain consistency among our cognitions and beliefs (Myers, 2012). Participants may felt the tension and dissonance in the beginning for shocking others; however, they could justify it with the external reward they received. Thus, with their attitudes changed, they were more likely to conform and continue the experiment. Secondly, our tendency to return favors is refer to as the norm of reciprocity (Burger, Horita, Kinoshita, Roberts & Vera, 1997). Regan (1971) did an experiment on favor and liking on compliance and he found that favors affect compliance and the recipient feels obligated to reciprocate the favor. He found additional evidence showing that favors affect compliance primarily due to the feelings of obligation created in the recipient, rather than liking (Regan, 1971). We may also apply this on this Milgram experiment. The participants received reward and they might felt obligated to comply and follow orders in order to continue the experiment and return the favor. More research has been done on reciprocity norm. Results show that our tendency to reciprocate favors appears to dissipate over time and it only affects us

Milgram found that the more interaction-physical, visual, or auditory-between the participants (teachers) and the confederates (learners), the less likely they would go all the way through to the highest level of shock (Kokot, 2001). Moreover, when the experimenters left the room, the participants would less likely to obey (Kokot, 2001). This shows that people have the pressure to conform when they have more interaction with the experimenters and less with the confederates.
Many experimenters have tried replicating Milgram’s studies. Different results have been found and most findings of the replicated experiments are still consistent with Milgram’s results. For example, Burger (2009) found corresponding results in his replication of the Milgram experiment, showing that people nowadays cannot escape from the strong pressure of