Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

478 CHAPTER 11 Social PsychologyThis table shows examples of the learner’sprotests at different voltage levels. If theteacher administered shocks beyond the330-volt level, the learner’s agonizedscreams were replaced with an ominoussilence.Source: Milgram (1974a).Table 11.3The Learner’s Schedule of Protests in Milgram’s Obedience Experiment120 volts → Ugh! Hey, this really hurts.150 volts → Ugh!!! Experimenter! That’s all. Get me out of here. I told you I had hearttrouble. My heart’s starting to bother me now. Get me out of here, please. My heart’s startingto bother me. I refuse to go on. Let me out.210 volts → Ugh!! Experimenter! Get me out of here. I’ve had enough. I won’t be in theexperiment any more.270 volts → (Agonized scream.) Let me out of here. Let me out of here. Let me out of here.Let me out. Do you hear? Let me out of here.300 volts → (Agonized scream.) I absolutely refuse to answer any more. Get me out of here.You can’t hold me here. Get me out. Get me out of here.315 volts → (Intensely agonized scream.) I told you I refuse to answer. I’m no longer part ofthis experiment.330 volts → (Intense and prolonged agonized scream.) Let me out of here. Let me out ofhere. My heart’s bothering me. Let me out, I tell you. (Hysterically) Let me out of here. Letme out of here. You have no right to hold me here. Let me out! Let me out! Let me out! Letme out of here! Let me out! Let me out!The Results of Milgram’s Original ExperimentCan you predict how Milgram’s subjects behaved? Of the 40 subjects, how manyobeyed the experimenter and went to the full 450-volt level? On a more personallevel, how do you think you would have behaved had you been one of Milgram’ssubjects?Milgram himself asked psychiatrists, college students, and middle-class adults topredict how subjects would behave (see Milgram, 1974a). All three groups predictedthat all of Milgram’s subjects would refuse to obey at some point. They predictedthat most subjects would refuse at the 150-volt level, the point at which the learnerfirst protested. They also believed that only a few rare individuals would go as faras the 300-volt level. Finally, none of those surveyed thought that any of Milgram’ssubjects would go to the full 450 volts.As it turned out, they were all wrong. Two-thirds of Milgram’s subjects—26 of the40—were fully compliant and went to the full 450-volt level. And of those who defiedthe experimenter, not one stopped before the 300-volt level. Table 11.4 shows theresults of Milgram’s original obedience study.Surprised? Milgram himself was stunned by the results, never expecting that themajority of subjects would admin ister the maximum voltage. Were his results afluke? Did Milgram inadvertently assemble a sadistic group of New Haven residentswho were all too willing to inflict extremely painful, even life-threatening, shocks ona complete stranger?The answer to both these questions is no. Milgram’s obedience study has beenrepeated many times in the United States and other countries (see Blass, 2000).And, in fact, Milgram (1974a) replicated his own study on numerous occasions, usingvariations of his basic experimental procedure.In one replication, for instance, Milgram’s subjects were 40 women. Were femalesubjects any less likely to inflict pain on a stranger? Not at all. The results were identical.Confirming Milgram’s results since then, eight other studies also found no sexdifferences in obedience to an authority figure (see Blass, 2000, 2004; Burger, 2009).Perhaps Milgram’s subjects saw through his elaborate experimental hoax, as somecritics have suggested (Orne & Holland, 1968). Was it possible that the subjects didnot believe that they were really harming the learner? Again, the answer seems to beno. Milgram’s subjects seemed totally convinced that the situation was authentic.And they did not behave in a cold-blooded, unfeeling way. Far from it. As the experimentprogressed, many subjects showed signs of extreme tension and conflict.