Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Obedience477Milgram’s Original Obedience ExperimentMilgram was only 28 years old when he conducted his first obedience experiments.At the time, he was a new faculty member at Yale Universityin New Haven, Connecticut. He recruited participants through directmailsolicitations and ads in the local paper. Collectively, Milgram’s subjectsrepresented a wide range of occupational and educational backgrounds.Postal workers, high school teachers, white-collar workers,engineers, and laborers participated in the study.Outwardly, it appeared that two subjects showed up at Yale Universityto participate in the psychology experiment, but the second subject wasactually an accomplice working with Milgram. The role of the experimenter,complete with white lab coat, was played by a high school biologyteacher. When both subjects arrived, the experimenter greeted themand gave them a plausible explanation of the study’s purpose: to examinethe effects of punishment on learning.Both subjects drew slips of paper to determine who would be the “teacher”and who the “learner.” However, the drawing was rigged so that the real subjectwas always the teacher and the accomplice was always the learner. The learner wasactually a mild-mannered, 47-year-old accountant who had been carefully rehearsedfor his part in the drama. Assigned to the role of the teacher, the real subjectwould be responsible for “punishing” the learner’s mistakes by administeringelectric shocks.Immediately after the drawing, the teacher and learner were taken to anotherroom, where the learner was strapped into an “electric chair.” The teacher was thentaken to a different room, from which he could hear but not see the learner. Speakinginto a microphone, the teacher tested the learner on a simple word-pair memorytask. In the other room, the learner pressed one of four switches to indicate withwhich alternative the word had previously been paired. The learner’s response wasregistered in an answer box positioned on top of the “shock generator” in front ofthe teacher. Each time the learner answered incorrectly, the teacher was to deliveran electric shock.Just in case there was any lingering doubt in the teacher’s mind about the legitimacyof the shock generator, the teacher was given a sample jolt using the switchmarked 45 volts. In fact, this sample shock was the only real shock given during thecourse of the staged experiment.The first time the learner answered incorrectly, the teacher was to deliver anelectric shock at the 15-volt level. With each subsequent error, the teacher wastold to progress to the next level on the shock generator. The teacher was alsotold to announce the voltage level to the learner before delivering the shock.At predetermined voltage levels, the learner vocalized first his discomfort, thenhis pain, and, finally, agonized screams. Some of the learner’s vocalizations at thedifferent voltage levels are shown in Table 11.3 on the next page. After 330 volts,the learner’s script called for him to fall silent. If the teacherprotested that he wished to stop or that he was worried about thelearner’s safety, the experimenter would say, “The experimentrequires that you continue” or “You have no other choice, youmust continue.”According to the script, the experiment would be halted when theteacher–subject refused to obey the experimenter’s orders to continue.Alternatively, if the teacher–subject obeyed the experimenter,the experiment would be halted once the teacher had progressed allthe way to the maximum shock level of 450 volts.Either way, after the experiment the teacher was interviewed andit was explained that the learner had not actually received dangerouselectric shocks. To underscore this point, a “friendly reconciliation”was arranged between the teacher and the learner, and the true purposeof the study was explained to the subject.The “Electric Chair” With the help of thereal subject, who had been assigned to therole of “teacher,” the experimenter strapsthe “learner” into the electric chair. Unbeknownstto the real subject, the learnerwas actually a 47-year-old accountant whohad been carefully rehearsed for his partin the experimental deception. The experimentertold both subjects, “Although theshocks can be extremely painful, theycause no permanent tissue damage.”Milgram’s “Shock Generator” MachineA young Stanley Milgram sits next to his“shock generator.” Milgram went to greatlengths to make the shock generator lookas authentic as possible. The front panelof the bogus shock generator had beenengraved by professional industrial engravers.Whenever the teacher pressed ashock switch, the red light above theswitch went on, a buzzing and clickingsound was heard, and the needle on thevoltage meter swung to the right. Veryconvincing details. Do you think youwould have been fooled into believingthat this was a real shock generator?