Activity 5: The Milgram Experiment

In the 1950s a psychologist called Stanley Milgram decided to test how obedient an average American would be when placed in a situation where s/he was told by a figure of authority to inflict pain on another person.

The experiment was set up so that on one side of a screen was a ‘teacher’ who had a set of questions to ask a ‘learner’ who was sitting on the other side of the screen. Sitting next to the ‘teacher’ was a man in a white coat. The uniform of the white coat represented someone in authority, a doctor or scientist. The ‘teacher’ was told that the ‘learner’ was wired up to an electric current and that each time the ‘learner’ gave an incorrect answer to one of the questions, the ‘teacher’ was to flick the switch to give the ‘learner’ an electric shock. For every wrong answer, the voltage of the shock was increased.

In fact, the ‘learner’ was not wired up to the electricity. The ‘learners’ could see the increased voltage on a display monitor and were told to shout out in more and more pain to make the ‘teacher’ believe they were really receiving the shocks.

When the ‘teachers’ expressed concern at the amount of pain they were giving the ‘learners’, they were told by the man in the white coat to continue. The man in the white coat said he would take responsibility for anything that happened to the ‘learner’.