Milgram's Experimental Research

Milgram's Seminar Research After the Nazi atrocities, during the Second World War, towards the Jews, many people wondered how people could have been so sadist and committed such behaviors. The Nazi's death camps were where Jews were tortured and killed by skilled administrative personnel, and these administrators were decent German citizens. Many people still wonder the reasons that could have motivated them to participate in such obnoxious behaviors. Milgram (1974) carried out of the most fascinated experiments to investigate the motive that makes people obey the authority.

Objective of this study is to discuses Milgram's research that focuses on obedience to authority. Milgram's Experimental Methodology Stanly Milgram's, a psychologist, carried out one of the most controversial experiments to investigate the obedience to authority. The participants were recruited from all walks of life and were divided into two groups. A group was to play the role of teachers, while the other group was to play the role of learners while Milgram played the role of an authority.

The participants were also given the token fees of $4.00 in order to encourage them participating in one hour experiment. Teachers' roles were to administer increasing level of electric shocks on learners for any incorrect answer. Milgram labeled the shock levels from 15 to 450 volts and volts were labeled: slight shock, moderate shock, strong shock, very strong shock, intense shock, and Extreme intensity shock. In reality, the electric shocks delivered were just 45-volts. The strategy was to make teachers believe that they were inflicting high level of electric shocks on learners.

The teachers were asked to deliver a shock on students each time the students produced an incorrect answer. As the experiment continued, the learners would plead to be released. Once the teachers increased the volts to 300 volts, the learners would bang on the wall and would be demanding to be released. As electric volts were increasing, some students were completely silent, however, the teachers were asked to treat the silence as an incorrect answer.

As the intensity of the shock increased, the learners yelled in pain, however, the experimenter ordered the teachers to continue administering the electric shocks. Although agitating and nervous, however astonishingly, more than two thirds of the teachers obeyed the order and administered the higher shocks on learners despite that the level of volts was as high as 450 volts. Milgram concluded from the results of the experiments that when an authority ordered people to do something, they would carry out the order even if the acts violate their conscious.

The results of the Milgram experiments assist in understanding the motive of Nazi's crimes. Milgrams suggested that people would commit the holocausts in order to obey the authorities even when the obedience is wrong. To validate the results, Milgram carried out the same experiments with totally different set of people and recorded the same results. Recent Research Recent research also agrees that people will still be ready to obey the authority. Burger, (2009) experiment also reveals that the obedient to authority remains unchanged after more than 50 years of Milgram's experiment.

Although, the compliance rates are slightly lower than the rates recorded by Milgram, however, Burger still finds no difference on the rate of obedience to authority between men and women. Burger implemented the same experiment by allowing the teachers to produce a level of electric shocks, between 15 volts and 450 volts, on learners. Similar to Milgram strategy, Burger also pays a token fee of $50 to encourage people to participate, although, 150 volts are the critical point in the Burger experiment.

In 2009, BBC also replicated the Milgram experiment, out of the 12 participants used for the experiment, only 3 participants refused to continue until the end of the experiment. Michael, (2012) also examines the Milgram experiment and investigates how it can be used in management teaching and training. The methodology that Michael used in his experiment was similar to the Milgram's methodology where participants were asked to participate in a memory test. The experimenter explains that he is investigating quantitative evidence on the effect of punishment on memory.

Michael also used the electric volts from 15 to 450 volts as a punishment for the incorrect answers. At the end of the experiment, Michael, (2012) produce the same results similar to the Milgram results. Discussions The implication of the Milgram experiment reveals that ordinary people can become an agent of destruction by simply believing they are doing the job asking them to do by the authority. These individuals will carry out the same actions after realizing the detrimental effects of their actions.

In the present contemporary world, very few people have the resources to go against the authority. "The person who, with inner conviction, loathes stealing, killing, and assault may find himself performing these acts with relative ease when commanded by authority." (Milgram, 1974 p 1). In essence, ordinary individual can become an agent of destruction even when their destructive effects are very clear to them. In order not to go against the authority, an individual can carry out an immoral responsibility and see themselves as an only an instrument of the authorities.

Apart from the example of Nazi holocaust, similar events have happened globally where ordinary people have become agents of destruction in order to obey the authority. The classical example was the attack of the U.S. Trade Center on September 11, 2001 where group of people became the agent of destruction and took the life of thousands of innocent people including their own life in order to obey the authorities. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein ordered the mass killing of people during his reign, and some people obeyed this order without question.

Similar occurrences are happening around the world where some people will blindly obey the authorities and go to the extent of killing mass number of people.