The Milgram Obedience Experiment
This experiment, conducted by Stanley Milgram, was designed to test how far a person would go to obey someone of authority. Milgram set up his test in two different room. One room included the test subject and the person of authority in charge of the experiment. The next room contained a person connected to a shock generator. The participants acted as the "teacher" who delivered a shock to the "student" for each incorrect answer. What the participants didn't know was that the "student" was faking it and wasn't really being shocked, but how far would they let the experiments go? Would they administer deadly amounts of electric shock just because they were ordered to do so?
The answer is yes. 65% of the participants did administer deadly amounts of electric shock knowing the harm they were causing the individual in the next room. We learn the difference between right and wrong at a young age but we are also told to follow orders from people of authority. With this conflict occurring within the participant they are forced to either trust their instincts and stop the experiments because it is wrong or follow the instructions given to them. Milgram had many strengths within his experiment. He did not choose his participants but allowed them to volunteer making them random. In doing this it made the data more authentic knowing the participants had no previous knowledge of the experiments. His major flaw, however, was providing payment to the participants. That could have been what motivated them to keep going even when their morals told them to stop. |
I would have also selected my participants at random but I would not have offered them a cash reward for participating. Money is a strong motivator people and you would be surprised by how far people would go to obtain it. I would want there to be no positive or negative reinforcement for participation at the experiment.
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