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Google search : milgram's experiment
Milgram's experiment doesn't begin in a laboratory, but rather a lecture theatre where a group of psychiatrists, university students and middle-class adults of various occupations and ages have gathered to listen to a lecture on obedience to authoity. During the lecture, Milgram asks the audience to imagine the following situation:
In response to a newspaper add offering $4.50 for one hour's work, you turn up at Yale University to take part in a Psychology experiment investigating memory and learning. You are introduced to a stern looking experimenter in a white coat and a rather pleasent and friendly co-subject. The experimenter explains that the experiment will look into the role of punishment in learning, and that one of you will be the teacher and one will be the learner. You draw lots to determine roles, and it is decided that you become the teacher. The three of you then proceed to an adjacent room, where the "learner" is strapped into a chair. The experimenter explains that this is to prevent excessive movement during the experiment, but its pretty obvious to you that the learner could not escape from the chair if he wished. Then, an electrode is attached to the learners arm, and conductive gel as applied to the electrode. The experimenter explains that this is to prevent burning and blisters. Both you and the learner are told that the electrode is attached to a electric shock generator in the other room, and that electric shocks will serve as punishment for incorrect responses. The learner asks the experimenter if "the shocks will hurt" to which the experimenter replies: "although the shocks will be painful, they cause no permanent tissue damage".
You leave the learner in his room and return to the other room where the experimenter shows you the shock generator. The generator has 30 switches, each is labelled with a voltage ranging from 15 up to 450 volts. Each switch also has a rating, ranging from "slight shock" to "danger: severe shock". The final two switches are labelled "XXX". You are told that your role is to teach the learner a simple paired associate task, but that you must punish him for incorrect responses. You are told that for every incorrect response you must increase the voltage by 15 volts (ie one more switch). The experimented gives you a 15 volt shock (enough to make you arm tingle) to check that the generator is functioning correctly. Now the experiment begins. The learner finds the task difficult and makes numerous errors. Each error results in a higher voltage shock than the previous one. To begin with the shocks are weak, but soon they become more intense. At 75 volts you can hear the learner "grunt" through the wall. The same thing happens at90 and 105 volts. At 120 volts the learner says the shocks are getting painful. You know, because you can hear him through the wall. At 150 he cries "get me out of here! I refuse to go on!".
His protests continue as the voltage gets higher and higher. If at this point, or any other point, of the experiment you question whether you should be continuing, the experimenter tells you to keep going, using such reasons as "you can't stop now", "he is getting paid to do this experiment" or that "the experiment depends on your continuing compliance". He may even say "you have no choice". As the shocks increase the learner screams out "I can't stand the pain!" At 300 volts he begins pounding on the wall and demands to be let out. After 330 volts there is no longer any noise from the learner. At this point the experimenter tells you that the learner's failure to respond should be interpreted as an incorrect response and to continue increasing the shock level. Soon either the highest shock level is reached or the learning task is completed and the experiment concludes.
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