Social Psychology 467playing a series of recorded audio responses (sounds of discomfort, asking for the experiment
to end, screaming) or remained silent as if unconscious—or dead. (See Figure 12.2 for samples
similar to the scripted responses of the learner.) As the teachers became reluctant to continue
administering the shocks, the experimenter in his authoritative white lab coat said, for exam-
ple, “The experiment requires you to continue” or “You must continue” and reminded the
teacher that the experimenter would take full responsibility for the safety of the learner.
Sample Script Items Similar to Those in Milgram’s Classic Experiment
Voltage of “Shock” Statements Similar to the Learner’s Script
120 “Ouch! Experimenter, let me out of here, I’m through! Please, I have
heart trouble, I don’t want to go on.”
150 “That’s it, enough! I will not be part of this experiment, let me out now!”
300 (Scream of pain heard in the background) ”I am not doing this
anymore, you can’t make me stay here. Get me out, get me out!”
330 (Louder and longer scream of pain) ”Get me out, get me out, my
heart, my heart! My chest hurts, get me out of here, let me out of
here, you have no right to do this! Let me out of here!”
Adapted from: Milgram (1963, 1974).InteractiveFigure 12.2 Milgram’s Classic Experiment
In Stanley Milgram’s classic study on obedience, the participants were presented with a control panel like
this one. Each participant (“teacher”) was instructed to give electric shocks to another person (the “learner,”
who only pretended to be shocked by pounding on the wall and playing a recorded audiotape of grunts,
protests, and screams). At what point do you think you would have refused to continue the experiment?
How many of the participants continued to administer what they believed were
real shocks? Milgram surveyed psychiatrists, college students, and other adults prior to
the experiments for their opinions on how far the participants would go in administering
shocks. Everyone predicted that the participants would all refuse to go on at some point,
with most believing that the majority of the participants would start refusing as soon as
the learner protested—150 volts. None of those he surveyed believed that any participant
would go all the way to the highest voltage.
So were they right? Far from it—in the first set of experiments, 65 percent of the
teachers went all the way through the experiment’s final 450-volt shock level, although
many were obviously uncomfortable and begged to be allowed to stop. Of those teachers
who did protest and finally stopped, not one of them quit before reaching 300 volts!
So what happened? Were those people sadists? Why would they
keep shocking someone like that?No one was more stunned than Milgram himself. He had not believed that his
experiments would show such a huge effect of obedience to authority. These results do