The Milgram Experiment Essay, Research Paper

The Milgram Experiment

The Milgram experiment is one of Psychology?s most controversial experiments. The study examines to what extend individuals obey an authority figure, and how far they will go, even if they believe their actions are harming another individual. This experiment found that sixty-two percent of subjects tested would obey authority even to the point of taking another individual?s life. The question currently under investigation is if this experiment were conducted at Oklahoma State University during present time, would sixty-two percent of subjects go all the way to XXX? I believe that the answer is yes. Even when Milgram presented alternative studies that varied different aspects of the experiment, the results continued to show about the same number of subjects continuing to XXX. I believe that Oklahoma State University students would be just as prone if not more so to following this pattern. Most of the individuals at college have been taught to obey authority figures, such as teachers in primary and secondary schools, throughout their lives. They carry that belief with them to college, which makes them just as susceptible to authority now as any of the subjects that have previously participated in the experiment.

After Milgram?s experiment yielded such astonishing results, he preceded to vary the experiment to explore different factors and how they affect the outcome of the experiment. Regardless of what he changed, Milgram always seemed to obtain about the same number of subjects continuing to XXX. I believe this trend would hold true even today regardless of location, which was actually a factor that was varied in one of Milgram?s alternate test. College students in current society might actually exceed the sixty-two percent originally found, because they have been exposed to violence at a much younger age, and have grown up in an era when violence is more widely accepted. Therefore, the consequences presented in the study might have less of an affect on today?s subjects, which would cause even more than sixty-two percent of them to go all the way to XXX.

Prior to attending college, students have been conditioned starting at a very young age to obey authority figures. Throughout their schooling, various repercussions ensued when authority was not obeyed. Many of the individuals who found it unnecessary to obey authority did not continue on to college, and those that did have learned that failure to obey authority at college results in more serious consequences. Hence, at least sixty-two percent of students at Oklahoma State University would go to the XXX, regardless of circumstances, simply because they have been taught to obey authority.

Even though the Milgram experiment was conducted many years ago, it continues to be one of psychology?s most intriguing studies. It is arguably the study singularly responsible for the American Psychological Association?s implementation and enforcement of guidelines and regulations that prevents an experimenter from inflicting emotional distress or any other detriment upon a subject. The results of this study continue to be so powerful today, that they often cause an individual to reevaluate himself, society, and to what extent he would obey authority.

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