What was the Milgram Experiment?

The Milgram experiment (also known as Obedience to Authority Study) is a very well-known scientific experiment for social psychology. The concept of experiments first began in 1963 with the Behavioral Study of Obedience published by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , Discussed later in Obedence to Authority: An Experimental View, which he published in 1974.

Milgren experiment

The Milgram experiment (also known as Obedience to Authority Study) is a very well-known scientific experiment for social psychology. The concept of experiments first began in 1963 with the Behavioral Study of Obedience published by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , Discussed later in Obedence to Authority: An Experimental View, which he published in 1974.

Chinese name

Milgren experiment

Foreign name

Milgram experiment

Subject

Social psychology

Presenter

Milgram

Presentation time

1963

In order to test the testee, when the authority gave an order against the conscience, how much rejection power humanity can play.

The experiment began a year after the Nazis Adolf Eichmann was captured back to Jerusalem for trial (1961) and sentenced to death (1962). Milgren designed this experiment to test "Eichmann and millions of others participated

In 1963, the experimental group advertised in the newspaper and sent many postal advertising letters, recruiting participants to come to Yale University to assist the experiment. The experimental site was selected in a basement in the university's old campus. The basement has two walls separated by walls. The ad states that the experiment will run for about an hour and the pay is $ 4.50 (approximately $ 20 in 2006). Participants range in age from 20 to 50 and include a variety of educational backgrounds, from primary school graduates to doctoral degrees.

Participants were informed that this was an experiment on the "utility of corporal punishment for learning behaviors" and were told that they would play the role of "teacher" to teach another participant in the next room-"student", but the student In fact, it was faked by the experimenter.

The participant will be informed that he was randomly selected as a "teacher" and was given a "answer sheet". The experimental team also explained to him that the participant selected as a student next door also received a question paper. But in fact both papers are "answer sheets" and all the real participants are "teachers". "Teacher" and "student" are in different rooms. They cannot see each other, but they can communicate with each other through walls through sound. One participant was even notified in advance that the next participant had heart disease.

The "teacher" was given an electric shock controller allegedly to jump from 45 volts, which was connected to a generator, and was told that the controller could shock the "student" next door. The answer sheet obtained by "Teacher" lists some well-matched words, and the task of "Teacher" is to teach the "student" next door. The teacher will read these word pairs one by one to the students. After the reading is finished, the teacher will start the exam. Each word pair will read four word options for students to answer, and the students will press the button to indicate the correct answer. If the student gets it right, the teacher will continue to test other words. If a student answers incorrectly, the teacher will shock the student. Whenever they make a mistake, the volts of the shock will increase.

Participants will believe that students will be shocked every time they make a mistake, but in fact no shock occurred. In the next room, the student impersonated by the experimenter turned on the recorder, and the recorder matched the action of the generator to play a pre-recorded scream. As the electric shock volts increased, there would be more amazing screams. When the number of volts rises to a certain level, the fake student will start hitting the wall, and after hitting the wall several times, he will start complaining that he has heart disease. When the number of volts continues to rise to a certain level, students will suddenly remain silent, stop responding, and stop screaming and other reactions.

Voltage "student" response

75 V mumble

120 V sore

150 V says he wants to withdraw from the trial

200 V shouted, "The blood in the blood vessels is frozen."

300 V Refuse to answer the question

More than 330 V silent

By this time many participants have shown a desire to suspend the experiment to check the condition of the students. Many participants paused when they reached 135 volts and questioned the purpose of the experiment. Some people continue the test after receiving a guarantee that they are not liable. Some laughed nervously when they heard the students scream.

If the participant indicates that he wants to stop the experiment, the experimenter will reply to him in the following order:

please continue.

This experiment requires you to continue, please continue.

It is necessary for you to proceed.

You have no choice, you must continue.

If the participants still want to stop after four times the encouragement of the reply, the experiment will stop. Otherwise, the experiment will continue until the punishment current applied by the participant is increased to a maximum of 450 volts and lasts three times before the experiment will stop.

Milgren recorded a documentary for the entire experimental process and its results. The documentary name is "Oblique", and the original copy of the documentary is currently difficult to find. He then produced a series of five social psychology films affected by the experiment with Harry From. These films can be found at the Pennsylvania State Media Center.

Before the experiment, Milgren had tested his psychologist colleagues to predict the results of the experiment. They all thought that there were only a few people-10% or even 1%-and they would continue to punish until the maximum Volts.

As a result, in Milgren's first experiment, 65 percent (26 out of 40) of the participants reached the maximum 450 volt penalty, although they all showed less comfort; everyone was at volts When the number reached a certain level, the experiment was suspended and questioned, and some even said that they wanted to return the experiment's compensation. No participant insisted on stopping before reaching 300 volts. Later, Milgren himself and many psychologists around the world also conducted similar or different experiments, but all obtained similar results. To confirm this experiment, there were also many experiments that changed the architecture.

Dr. Thomas Blass of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (also the biographer of Milgren-author of "Wake Up the World") came up with meta-analysis after repeated experiments (Meta- analysis), he found that regardless of the time and place of the experiment, a certain percentage of participants were willing to apply lethal volts, ranging from 61% to 66%.

Little was known about the situation at the end of the experiment. According to Mirgla's recollection, those participants who did not reach the highest volt at the time did not insist that the experiment itself should end, nor did they visit the "student" in the next room and leave. At no time did the experimenter's consent be asked.

The experiment itself was questioned ethically about scientific experiments, as the experiment exerted extremely intense emotional pressure on the participants (although this pressure can be said to be caused by their own free operation), although the experimental belt Here comes the valuable discovery of research in human psychology, and many scientists now consider such experiments to be unethical.

Milgren defended, and subsequent surveys found that 84% of participants at the time said they felt "happy" or "very happy" to participate in the experiment, and 15% chose a neutral attitude (92% of the participants (Doing an after-the-fact investigation), many of whom thanked Millgren afterwards. And Milgren keeps receiving these former participants who want to assist him again in the experiment and even want to join his research team.

Six years later (that is, the largest period of the Vietnam War), one of the former participants contacted Milgren to say why they felt "happy" to participate in the experiment:

"When I was experimenting in 1964, although I believed that I was hurting someone, I had no idea why I did it. When people acted on what they believe in and obediently obey the power, it is very Few people will realize this ... Allow me to think that I am drafted into the army by the authority, and this will cause me to do some bad things that even I am afraid of ... If I refuse to serve in the conscience The application (Conscientious Objector) was not approved by the authority, and I am ready to go to jail because of this. This is the only option for my conscience. My only hope is that my partners who have also been recruited can do the same. Their conscience ... "

However, the experimental experience is not a lifelong change for every participant. Many participants were not told the details according to modern experimental standards, and interviews at the time of departure showed that many participants did not seem to understand the actual situation of the experiment.

The main comment caused by the experiment is not the ethical controversy of the experimental method, but the meaning of the experiment. A Yale University participant in 1961 wrote in Jewish Currents that when he wanted to stop halfway through his role as a "teacher," he suspected that "the entire experiment might have been well-designed. Will not obey orders contrary to moral conscience-just like the Germans during the Nazi period "and this is one of the original intentions of the experiment. In his book, "The Danger of Obedience," Milgren said, "The problem we face is that the environment in which we create obedience to power in the laboratory, and the Nazi era we blame. What kind of connection. "