Milgram's Obedience Experiments: Don’t Be Too Shocked! -- Psychology Series | Academy 4 Social C...

The Milgram Obedience Experiments are a series of experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram in which a volunteer or “teacher” is asked by an experimenter to administer shocks as part of a “learning experiment.” Their job is to shock the “learner,” a confederate posing as another volunteer, every time they answer a question incorrectly. With each incorrect answer, the shock level increases. As the shocks get more painful, the learner screams out, “Hey, this really hurts!” and “Let me out of here!” Stanley Milgram and other prominent psychologists were doubtful any volunteer would continue after the learner first cries out, but 65% of participants delivered the final shock of 450 volts.

**Think Further Questions:
1. Provide an example (other than the Holocaust) of people following unethical orders they didn’t agree with because of the obedience principles listed above.
2. Think of a time when you followed a command that you thought was morally wrong. What most influenced your decision to follow?
3. Milgram re-did his classic experiment multiple times, changing different details of the study. What are some ways he could change the experiment to have a higher full obedience rate? A lower obedience rate? Explain how such changes would affect the obedience rate using the obedience principles.

**Contents
00:00 - Have You Ever?
00:28 - Here’s Why
00:50 - The Milgram Obedience Experiments
01:31 - How It Works
02:13 - Why Care?

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