The Milgram Experiment of The 1960s

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Recommended: Obedience Study:Stanley Milgram

The Milgram experiment of the 1960s was designed to ascertain why so many Germans decided to support the Nazi cause. It sought to determine if people would be willing to contradict their conscience if they were commanded to do so by someone in authority. This was done with a psychologist commanding a teacher to administer an electric shock to a student each time a question was answered incorrectly. The results of the Milgram experiment help to explain why so many men in Nazi Germany were recruited to support the Nazi cause and serve as a warning against the use of “enhanced interrogation” techniques by the United States government.
The Milgram experiment was designed and performed by Yale University social psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1961. Milgram created this experiment predominately to determine what would have motivated Germans to so readily conform to the demands put forth by the Nazi party. Milgram wished to answer his question, “Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?” (McLeod). At the time of these experiments, debates about the Nuremberg trials, particularly the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the major perpetrators in the Holocaust, were still ongoing. At these trials, many Nazi party officials and military officers were put on trial for committing “crimes against humanity.” Although some defendants pleaded guilty, others claimed that they were innocent and only following orders that were given to them by a higher authority, Adolf Hitler. In the end, twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death, three to life in prison, four to approximately fifteen year prison terms, and three were acquitted (“The Nuremberg Trials”)....

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...’s initial false persona and promises to make Germany better. The Milgram experiment can be further extended to the use of “enhanced interrogation,” which can easily lead to insensitivity in the people who conduct such interrogations. The Milgram experiment serves as a significant explanation for the cooperation of Germans with the Nazi party and serves as a compelling warning for the future.

Works Cited

Bailey, Ronald. “Would You Have Been a Nazi?” 6 Jan. 2009. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Cherry, Kendra. “The Milgram Obedience Experiment.” N.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Larson, Erik. In the Garden of Beasts. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2011. Print.
McLeod, Saul. “The Milgram Experiment.” 2007. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Ross, Brian and Richard Esposito. “CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described.” 18 Nov. 2005. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
“The Nuremberg Trials.” N.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

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