Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View
Encyclopedia
Between 1961 and 1962 Stanley Milgram
carried out a series of experiments
in which human subjects supposedly were given progressively more painful electro-shocks in a careful calibrated series to determine to what extent people will obey orders even when they knew them to be painful and immoral -to determine how people will obey authority regardless of consequences. These experiments came under heavy criticism at the time but have ultimately been vindicated by the scientific community. This book is Milgram′s explanation of his methods.
Stanley Milgram's experiments on obedience to authority are among the most important psychological studies of this century. Perhaps because of the enduring significance of the findings -the surprising ease with which ordinary persons can be commanded to act destructively against an innocent individual by a legitimate authority -it continues to claim the attention of psychologists and other social scientists, as well as the general public. This study continues to inspire valuable research and analysis.
taught social psychology at Yale
and Harvard Universities before becoming a "Distinguished Professor" at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
. He received several honors and awards, including a Ford Foundation
Fellowship, an American Association for the Advancement of Science
Socio-Psychological
Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship
. He died in 1984 at the age of fifty-one.
Stanley Milgram
Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist most notable for his controversial study known as the Milgram Experiment. The study was conducted in the 1960s during Milgram's professorship at Yale...
carried out a series of experiments
Milgram experiment
The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that...
in which human subjects supposedly were given progressively more painful electro-shocks in a careful calibrated series to determine to what extent people will obey orders even when they knew them to be painful and immoral -to determine how people will obey authority regardless of consequences. These experiments came under heavy criticism at the time but have ultimately been vindicated by the scientific community. This book is Milgram′s explanation of his methods.
Stanley Milgram's experiments on obedience to authority are among the most important psychological studies of this century. Perhaps because of the enduring significance of the findings -the surprising ease with which ordinary persons can be commanded to act destructively against an innocent individual by a legitimate authority -it continues to claim the attention of psychologists and other social scientists, as well as the general public. This study continues to inspire valuable research and analysis.
About the Author
Stanley MilgramStanley Milgram
Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist most notable for his controversial study known as the Milgram Experiment. The study was conducted in the 1960s during Milgram's professorship at Yale...
taught social psychology at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
and Harvard Universities before becoming a "Distinguished Professor" at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
. He received several honors and awards, including a Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
Fellowship, an American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
Socio-Psychological
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
. He died in 1984 at the age of fifty-one.
Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- The Dilemma of Obedience
- Methodology of Inquiry
- Expected Behavior
- Closeness of the Victim
- Individuals confront authority
- Further Variations and Control
- Individuals confront authority II
- Role permutations
- Group Effects
- Why Obedience- an analysis
- The process of Obedience: Applying the Analysis to the Experiment
- Strain and Disobedience
- An alternative Theory: Is Aggression the Key?
- Problems of Method
- Epilogue
- Appendix I: Problems of Ethic in Research.
- Appendix II: Patterns among individuals.
- Epilogue
Editions
- Milgram, S., Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reprint edition (June 30, 2009) Paperback: 256 pages ISBN-10: 006176521X ISBN-13: 978-0061765216
- Milgram, S., Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, Pinter & Martin Ltd.; New edition edition (17 Jan 2005) Paperback: 240 pages ISBN-10: 0953096475 ISBN-13: 978-0953096473
- Milgram, S. (1974), Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, London: Tavistock Publications.