Article Summary 1: Milgram’s Behavioral Study of Obedience
Brandon Rodriguez
Running head: ARTICLE SUMMARY 1 1
ARTICLE SUMMARY 1 4
Humboldt State University
Article Summary 1: Milgram’s Behavioral Study of Obedience
Obedience is defined as the tendencies of individuals to submit to authority figures and their requests (Milgram, 1963). In a study of obedience, Milgram (1963) hypothesized only a minority of the participants would go to the end of a shock series when presented with administering shocks to other participants. To test this prediction, Milgram recruited a sample of 40 men from New Haven and the surrounding communities from a newspaper advertisement.
Milgram’s (1963) experimental trails were composed of one true participant and one confederate. Milgram’s study deceived true participants, who were made to believe that they were truly inflicting pain on the learners. Participants were however told the experiment would be studying the effects of punishment on learning ability. Both participants thought they had an equal chance of playing the role of a learner or of a teacher. Though, the process was rigged so all true participants would play the role of the teacher. An experimenter, then told the participant to administer a shock to the learner each time he gave a wrong response. With every shock, the participant was then instructed to move one level higher on the shock generator, while verbally announcing the voltage level. The electrical panel consists of 30 lever switches that range from 15 to 450 volts, labeled l...
