Have you heard of it?
The Milgram Experiment, conducted by Stanley Milgram at Yale University in 1961, tested people’s willingness to obey authority figures, even when doing so involved actions that caused pain to others. The experiment involved a participant, designated as the “teacher,” administering fake electric shocks to a “student” (actually an actor) whenever he or she got a question wrong, with the intensity of the shocks progressively increasing. Despite the “student’s” screams and protests, many participants continued to administer the shocks, following the experimenter’s instructions (unaware that the shocks were fake).
The main goal of the experiment was to understand how ordinary people could be led to perform morally questionable actions under the influence of authority. The results demonstrated that a significant portion of the participants were willing to obey orders, even if it meant inflicting pain on another person. The experiment had a major impact on social psychology and generated ethical debates about the use of experiments involving situations that could potentially harm the participants.
In short, the Milgram Experiment revealed the powerful influence of authority on human behavior and raised important questions about the nature of obedience and moral responsibility.
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