BEHAVIORAL STUDY OF OBEDIENCE
The Behavioral study of Obedience by Milgram, S. (1963) is a widely criticized experiment on numerous
ethical violations. The objective of the study to experiment on the people’s obedience of an instruction
which includes actions that would harm another person. The holocaust and the human atrocities in
during the World War 2 was a main inspiration for Milgram to conduct this experiment, as he believed
that, even the highest person in power desired or ordered the mass destruction, it could not have been
executed without the support and the actions of large numbers of people. They either willingly have
done it or they simply believed that they were obeying the order from the upper management and the
consequences and guiltiness relies on the upper management.
The subjects for this experiment were selected through the news paper ads targeting the males
between age 20 and 50 from New Haven and the surrounding communities, indicating the volunteer will
receive a payment of 4$ for participating in the experiment. Prior to the experiment, the subjects were
informed no matter what happens in the laboratory, the subject could keep the money with them. The
experiment was disguised as a study the effects of punishment on memory, which violates the ethical
code 8.07 – Deception in Research. The subject will take part as a teacher and a hired actor will be the
learner following a rigged draw. There will be an experimenter who will request to administer the shock
on learner for each incorrect answer for an MCQ question of pair of words. For each incorrect answers,
the shock voltage will be increased by 15V. The voltage starts with 15V and there will be 30 levels up to
450V. The shocks are labelled as slight shock, moderate shock, strong shock, intense shock, extreme
intensity shock and Danger: Severe Shock. The 2 switches after this will be labelled as XXX. The
measurement of the experiment was the maximum shock the subject administers before he quits the
experiment. There will be 4 prods used by the experimenter respectively 1. Please continue, 2. The
experiment requires that you continue, 3. It is absolutely essential that you continue and 4. You have no
The Behavioral study of Obedience by Milgram, S. (1963) is a widely criticized experiment on numerous
ethical violations. The objective of the study to experiment on the people’s obedience of an instruction
which includes actions that would harm another person. The holocaust and the human atrocities in
during the World War 2 was a main inspiration for Milgram to conduct this experiment, as he believed
that, even the highest person in power desired or ordered the mass destruction, it could not have been
executed without the support and the actions of large numbers of people. They either willingly have
done it or they simply believed that they were obeying the order from the upper management and the
consequences and guiltiness relies on the upper management.
The subjects for this experiment were selected through the news paper ads targeting the males
between age 20 and 50 from New Haven and the surrounding communities, indicating the volunteer will
receive a payment of 4$ for participating in the experiment. Prior to the experiment, the subjects were
informed no matter what happens in the laboratory, the subject could keep the money with them. The
experiment was disguised as a study the effects of punishment on memory, which violates the ethical
code 8.07 – Deception in Research. The subject will take part as a teacher and a hired actor will be the
learner following a rigged draw. There will be an experimenter who will request to administer the shock
on learner for each incorrect answer for an MCQ question of pair of words. For each incorrect answers,
the shock voltage will be increased by 15V. The voltage starts with 15V and there will be 30 levels up to
450V. The shocks are labelled as slight shock, moderate shock, strong shock, intense shock, extreme
intensity shock and Danger: Severe Shock. The 2 switches after this will be labelled as XXX. The
measurement of the experiment was the maximum shock the subject administers before he quits the
experiment. There will be 4 prods used by the experimenter respectively 1. Please continue, 2. The
experiment requires that you continue, 3. It is absolutely essential that you continue and 4. You have no
