In 1963, social psychologist, Stanley Milgram constructed an experiment to see if ordinary people would follow orders, even when the request went against moral beliefs. Milgram wanted to test obedience to authority and its contrast to personal conscience, basing his research questions off the justification of mass murder in Nazi Germany during WWII. He wanted to investigate whether people were particularly obedient to those in authority, which was a common explanation for the genocide that occurred in Germany. His hypothesis was that ordinary people would act in a similar way. The experiment consisted of “teachers”, who were the real participants, and “learners”, who were actors—the teachers were mislead to believe that the experiment was about memory and learning. The participants were split up, with the learners in one room, and the teachers in another; unable to see each other, but could hear each other. The researchers gave the teachers a series of questions to ask the learners. If the questions were answered incorrectly an electrical shock would be administered to the learner. Though there wasn’t really any shock, the teachers were made to think there was. The voltage of the shock would increase with each wrong answer. The learner would then give off sounds of pain and distress, which eventually lead to screams and begs to stop as the voltage grew higher. Through this, the teachers would show signs of discomfort and confusion, which then became extreme distress. Eventually, the teachers would ask to stop the experiment, but were encouraged to continue and told they wouldn’t be responsible for any of the results. In this case, the dependent variable was the compliance of the participant, which relied on the independent variable, being the amount of authoritative force given to the participant. hough the experiment was questioned throughout its duration, all of the participants continued to 300 volts, and 65% went to the maximum voltage of 450 (which was clearly labeled as life-threatening). When the experiment ended, Milgram concluded that people are likely to follow orders given by a person of authority, even if there was a chance of severe harm to another. Though seen greatly as an experiment that produced pioneering results for its time, the Milgram Experiment has many ethical issues, according to both the APA and CPA code of ethics. Within the experiment, there was a lack of informed consent. This meant that the participants were unaware of the real experiment they were agreeing to partake in; this consigns with the presence of deception within the experiment. The “teachers” genuinely believed they were shocking—and harming—actual people. This also connects with the protection of participants, found in the CPA code, and doing no harm found in APA. The subjects of Milgram’s tests were exposed to extremely stressful, and uncomfortable situations that could’ve potentially have caused emotional or mental harm, with no tell to long-term effects. Lastly, the experiment lacked the right to withdraw from the investigation. Because this was an experiment on the reaction to authority, if there was a request to stop, the researcher present gave four verbal prompts for continuation before halting it. These were: “please continue”, “the experiment requires that you continue”, “it is absolutely necessary that you continue”, “you have no choice, you must go on”. The Milgram Experiment was extremely interesting and informative. The idea was in good intent in regards to scientific curiosity and questioning. Additionally, the results were groundbreaking and have helped the progression of many modern psychological theories. Regardless of this, the treatments toward the participants and the disregard to basic ethics have made this experiment very controversial and distasteful. The footage is visually disturbing and uncomfortable to witness, and the sounds of distress and pain from both the teachers and the learners are hard to listen to. After reading about, and watching this experiment, I personally found it very unsettling and uncomfortable. It then made me think about how I would react to that type of situation. I would like to think that I would refuse to continue if aware of that I was harming someone else; however, after seeing the reactions of the participants, and learning afterwards of its direct relation to the actions of Nazi Germany, the question of how much of a choice one actually has in deciding to stop or not is brought to light, and makes you think. The results of the Milgram Experiment showed how ordinary citizens blindly obeyed authority, even when harming another person was a factor. While the reported process described an orderly and civilized procedure, recent findings from Gina Perry, a psychologist from Australia beg to differ. While researching for her book, Behind the Shock Machine: The Untold Story of the Notorious Milgram Psychology Experiments, Perry stumbled across hundreds of audiotapes found in Yale University archives that documented many variations of Milgram’s experiments. She suggests that “the slavish obedience to authority we have come to associate with Milgram’s experiments comes to sound much more like bullying and coercion when you listen to these recordings.” (Perry, 2019). With this evidence, one can no longer fully believe in the findings of the Milgram Experiment. When conducting any type of research procedure, scientists must follow a step system to make sure that all information uncovered can be, and is proven to then turn into a scientific theory. As Milgram allegedly withheld audiotapes that documented what is considered a form of manipulation, the theories in which he built, are held in less regard. Sources : Cherry, K. (2019). Milgram’s Experiment and the Perils of Obedience. Retrieved from https:// www.verywellmind.com/the-milgram-obedience-experiment-2795243 Georgi, S. (2017). The Milgram Experiment. Retrieved from: https://www.slideshare.netsrgeorgi/ the-milgram-experiment-75870909 McLeod, S. (2017). The Milgram Shock Experiment. Retrieved from: https:// www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html (NO AUTHOR LISTED) (2008) Q&A—Questions and Answers. Retrieved from: https:// explorable.com/questions-and-answers
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