Milgram's Study on Obedience

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would get the ball rolling on my blogs. I am really looking forward to delving into the various social psychology theories and concepts throughout this semester, and I think this blogging process is a great way to discuss topics such as attitudes, emotions, relationships and behaviours with others. Another topic that is of interest to me is that of obedience. Post World War II, Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment focusing on the concept of obedience. For those unfamiliar with Milgram’s experiment, I have included a link to a video and also some more information about the experiment below. Despite the controversial approach used in this study, it provided insight into how our behaviour can be strongly influenced by the instructions of an authority figure. The results of this experiment highlighted that despite their own feelings and moral objections to the administration of electric shocks to others, a number of the “teachers” (those applying the electric shocks to the learners) continued to apply the electric shocks, even at the highest possible voltage, simply because they were instructed to do so!

Here are the links below.

Milgram's Study on Obedience

Video

Please feel free to comment on the experiment. What does everyone think about the nature of the experiment and its findings?

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