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Milgram's Experiment Essay

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Milgram's Experiment Essay
Behavioural Study of Obedience:
Milgram’s Experiment M.J
George Brown College

#1) Obedience
I think the three aspects of the situation faced by the subjects in Milgram’s study were the prestige of the university, the proximity of the experimenter, and the money paid. These aspects were the most influential in causing the subjects to obey. The influence of the prestige of Yale University was a key point to get the obedience of the subjects. People are prone to obey more to individuals and organizations with prestige (Milgram, 1963). The sponsorship of Yale University to the experiment implied to many participants that the experiment was safe. As McLeod (2007) affirmed, “This suggests that prestige increases …show more content…
After reading, analyzing, and doing a lot of research about The Behavioral Study of Obedience, I have reached the following conclusion: Milgram’s experiment went too far. Even though his experiment is qualified as a success because 26 out 40 participants completely obeyed, for me this experiment is not about obedience at all. For me, it was a set up where the participants felt trapped and didn’t have an idea of how to end the situation. The unethical approach that Milgram took to demonstrate his hypothesis is unacceptable for my moral principles. Milgram’s experiment played with the moral fiber of the participants. They had to choose to be immoral by administering shocks to the learner which in the end would be the responsibility of the experimenter or be immoral because they were willing to cooperate after being paid to do so and accepting the right of the prestigious university to conduct immoral allegedly safe experiments.
I think about the trauma that the participants must have received as a result of Milgram’s experiment. Even though Milgram defends himself on ethical questions, there are many other researchers who have demonstrated that Milgram was so immoral for going on with the experiment. Even Milgram expressed in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology that the participants where very uncomfortable and showed many signals of distress and stress. (Milgram, 1963). However, he never questioned the validity of his
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