Question
Subject: classic psychology experiment
Category: Science > Social Sciences
Asked by: rnd13-ga
List Price: $5.00
Posted: 31 Oct 2002 02:59 PST
Expires: 30 Nov 2002 02:59 PST
Question ID: 94032
Some years ago, there was a classic psychology experiment. A
volunteer was recruited to help researchers in a lab administer
increasingly-painful electric shocks to a subject, ostensibly to see
how negative reinforcement would affect learning.
It turned out that the "subject" was actually a shill ... And the
volunteer was actually himself the one being tested: to see how
willing he'd be to cause harm to another, once absolved of any
personal responsibility by an authority figure (i.e., those conducting
the test).
I would like to find out who/where/when this experiment was conducted.
Answer
Subject: Re: classic psychology experiment
Answered By: justaskscott-ga on 31 Oct 2002 03:41 PST
Rated:
This was an experiment (or, more technically, a series of experiments)
devised by Stanley Milgram and performed during the early 1960s when
Milgram was at Yale.
Milgram described the experiment in Obedience to Authority (1974),
which was apparently adapted into the following article in Harper's
Magazine:
"The Perils of Obedience, by Stanley Milgram"
think-truth/wisdom unabashed
http://home.swbell.net/revscat/perilsOfObedience.htm Here is a little background on Milgram and a brief summary of
Obedience to Authority:
"Milgram's Obedience to Authority"
A Student Handbook for Chuck Huff's Introduction to psychology
St. Olaf College
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/huff/classes/handbook/Milgram.html Another page reproduces a chart from Obedience to Authority on the
maximum shocks administered during the first four experiments:
"The Milgram Experiment: Maximum Shocks Administered in Experiments
1,2,3, and 4"
Mt. Holyoke College
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/milgram.htm If you would like further background on Milgram, additional
description of the experiments and their significance, and other
sources of information in print, the following web sites and web page
should be helpful:
Stanleymilgram.com (hosted by Thomas Blass, Ph.D)
http://www.stanleymilgram.com/ Milgram Reenactment
http://www.milgramreenactment.org/pages/index.xml "Stanley Milgram", complied by Heather Miller
Muskingum College: Department of Psychology
http://fates.cns.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/milgram.htm - justaskscott-ga
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