What Did The Milgram Experiment Reveal About Human Behavior?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Milgram’s research has had profound implications for the study of individual behavior that results in harm to others, demonstrated by events like the Holocaust and the My Lai massacre, showing that

obedience to authority

What is the importance of Stanley Milgram’s research on obedience in understanding human Behaviour?

Stanley Milgram was a social psychologist best-remembered for his now infamous obedience experiments. His research

demonstrated how far people are willing to go to obey authority

. His experiments are also remembered for their ethical issues, which contributed to changes in how experiments can be performed today.

What did we learn from the Milgram experiment?

“What Milgram’s obedience studies revealed above all was

the sheer power of social pressure

. … The fact that recent studies have replicated Milgram’s findings demonstrates that Milgram had “identified one of the universals or constants of social behavior, spanning time and place.”

What was the conclusion of the Milgram experiment?

Stanley Milgram reached the conclusion that

people would obey instructions from those who they saw as legitimate authority figures

, even if the instructions they received were to do something to harm another person. From this, Milgram concluded that people were socialized to follow immoral or unlawful orders.

What was Milgram’s hypothesis?

The hypothesis tested in the Milgram experiment was that,

under the right circumstances, people would follow the directions of an authority figure to the extent of harming or even killing other people

.

What are the factors that affect obedience?

  • Commands were given by an authority figure rather than another volunteer.
  • The experiments were done at a prestigious institution.
  • The authority figure was present in the room with the subject.
  • The learner was in another room.
  • The subject did not see other subjects disobeying commands.

What is an example of obedience?

Real Life Example of Obedience


Millions of people were killed in Nazi Germany in concentration camps

but Hitler couldn’t have killed them all, nor could a handful of people. … In order to obey authority, the obeying person has to accept that it is legitimate (i.e. rightful, legal) for the command to be made of them.

How is our behavior affected by the presence of others?

How is our behavior affected by the presence of others or by being part of a group? Social facilitation experiments reveal that the presence of either observers or co-

actors can arouse individuals, boosting their performance on easy tasks but hindering it on difficult ones

.

What was unethical about the Milgram experiment?

The experiment was deemed unethical,

because the participants were led to believe that they were administering shocks to real people

. The participants were unaware that the learner was an associate of Milgram’s. However, Milgram argued that deception was necessary to produce the desired outcomes of the experiment.

What is the Milgram experiment summary?

The goal of the Milgram experiment was

to test the extent of humans’ willingness to obey orders from an authority figure

. Participants were told by an experimenter to administer increasingly powerful electric shocks to another individual. … The experiment has been widely criticized on ethical and scientific grounds.

What is a major problem with the original Milgram study?

What is a major problem with the original Milgram study?

Milgram lied to his respondents, making his study borderline unethical

. What is the major flaw in the Asch conformity study? Asch ignored the importance of several factors influencing conformity- race, class, and gender.

What were the subjects in the Milgram experiment asked to do quizlet?

How was the study set up? The experimenter (E) orders the teacher (T), the subject of the experiment,

to give what the latter believes are painful electric shocks to a learner (L), who is actually an actor and confederate

.

What did the Milgram experiment demonstrate quizlet?

1. Milgram found

that people will obey orders to hurt another person

. … even when this means they hurt another person.

Why does destructive obedience occur?

This type of obedience is seen in criminal relationships, sometimes influenced by substance abuse,

where one partner has immense emotional sway over the other

. …

How does obedience affect behavior?

Obedience is a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure. … Instead, obedience involves

altering your behavior because a figure of authority has told you to

.

Does personality affect obedience?

Likely link with Obedience: The

more authoritarian the personality

, the greater the shocks administered. … Likely link with Obedience: Those with internal locus of control will be more likely to be defiant, those with external locus of control will be more likely to be obedient.

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.