Social Psychological Studies, Research Paper Example

The Milgram experiments is a well-known work that aimed to determine the extent to which people will obey authority. These experiments were conducted after the completion of World War II and were meant to reflect the decisions that Nazi’s and other Germans were forced to make while Adolf Hitler’s regime was in power. Ultimately, Milgram measured people’s tendency to follow orders based on the severity of what was asked of them. While some participants in the study were no longer willing to take orders if these actions were to hurt others, other participants continued to take orders regardless of their impact.

The experiment itself was composed of a series of volunteers who would be taking orders, actors pretending to be volunteers, and the scientist running the experiment. Volunteers were informed that they would be participating in an experiment concerning learning and whether punishment for incorrect answers has the potential for aiding this process. Specifically, electric shock would be the punishment delivered, which would become increasingly strong as more and more questions are answered incorrectly. To ensure that the real volunteer would not be privy to the experiment, the actor and volunteer were always asked to draw a piece of paper from a hat to determine their role. This also confirmed that the real volunteer would always be selected as the “teacher” in the experiment, while the actor would always pretend that his or her paper reads “learner” to ensure they were placed in the correct roles. In some versions of the experiment, the “learner” would mention to the volunteer that they have certain health issues, such as heart problems, that could potentially make the volunteer feel worse about his or her decisions. In all cases, the actors were simply pretending to be electrocuted and no real harm was done to them (Milgram, 1974).

In every experiment, the “teacher” was asked to teach a list of word pairs to the “learner”, and was instructed to deliver an electric shock for incorrect answers with the voltage increasing in 15-volt increments for each wrong answer. The actor would act according to each increase in voltage, and would play prerecorded sounds at each voltage level to represent the pain that is expected to have been experienced. This would include asking the volunteer to stop, banging on the wall, and ceasing to make noise altogether. The results of the exam were measured on the basis of which point the volunteers wished to stop at. However, the lead scientist would ask them to continue repeatedly and ensure them that they would not be held responsible. The subject would be allowed to cease the exam if the lead scientist asked them to continue four times and they still refused. Otherwise, the experiment would end after the volunteer delivered the highest voltage available three times in a row.

In the first set of experiments that Milgram conducted, it was found that 65% of participants were willing to deliver the highest shock, which was 450 volts. However, many of them were stressed out about doing so. Milgram concluded that in these cases, authority was capable of overriding the morality of these individuals. This was used to draw parallels between the individuals who participated in the Nazi regime during World War II. Although people know that what they are doing is wrong, their respect for authority allows them to hurt others. This experiment was repeated several times in different locations and similar results were observed.

Many researchers were concerned with the ethical implications of Milgram’s experiments and felt the need to determine whether these results would be replicated in the modern era (Baumrind, 1964). Although it is difficult to replicate these experiments precisely due to the regulations set in place by the Institutional Review Board and other ethics review committees, a scientist by the name of Jerry Burger found a way to mimic the experiment, but with several important changes (Berger, 2007). He observed that in Milgram’s data, participants who were willing to apply more than 150 volts would almost always continue until 450 volts were applied. Therefore, Berger proposed that the experiment could easily be stopped at 150 volts and diminish the amount of stress that the project would case the participants. In addition, Burger was sure to screen volunteers to ensure that involvement in this project would not cause them emotional difficulty. Lastly, participants were informed that they would be able to withdraw from the study at any time and told immediately after study completion that the electric shocks they though they delivered were fake. Therefore, Burger found a way to address a majority of ethical concerns that researchers had with Milgram’s original experiment.

Interestingly, it was found that 70% of participants were willing to continue past the 150 volt mark, indicating that Burger’s results almost perfectly mimicked Milgram’s results, despite the ethical redesign of the testing process (Munger, 2009) Other experiments showed that people were less likely to obey these commands if they were delivered by telephone rather than in person. Therefore, an individual’s physical presence is helpful for directing authority. In addition, when volunteers were exposed to another individual who disagreed with the process, they were more likely to agree that this experiment is wrong and refuse to continue.

Ultimately, most individuals tend to conform to authority because they are uncomfortable with the possibilities of what could happen if they do not. As discussed, Jerry Burger’s recent experiments perfectly reflect the results that Milgram retrieved decades ago. Even though this is a different time period and the experiments were performed in an ethical manner, it appears challenging for individuals to make their own decisions and to enforce them. Burger demonstrated that people feel more at ease in doing so when there are other members of a group that clearly agree with them. As a consequence, they are more likely to feel that they are right and are therefore more likely to act upon their intuition.

References

Baumrind, Diana (1964). Some Thoughts on Ethics of Research: After Reading Milgram’s “Behavioral Study of Obedience”. American Psychologist, 19 (6): 421–423

Berger J. (2007). Replicating Milgram. Observer. Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2007/december-  07/replicating-milgram.html

Milgram, Stanley (1974). Obedience to Authority; An Experimental View. Harper Collins.

Munger D. (2009). Would we still obey? The first replication of Milgram’s work in over 30 years. Cognitive Daily. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/01/26/would-we-still-obey-the-first/