Social psychology- obedience: Milgram's baseline study

Question 1

What was the aim of Milgram’s study?

Answer 1

Stanley Milgram (1963) aimed to understand the behaviour of the Germans who committed destructive behaviour on over 10 million people in the holocaust when ordered to kill them. Some people said the germans were just different and that they were just very obedient. However, Milgram wanted to find out why they were so obedient. He conducted a study to test out how obedient people would be when faced with a legitimate authority figure, even when they were commanded to carry out destructive behaviour on a person. The behaviour had to be destructive otherwise the participants would have no reason not to obey.

Question 2

What was the procedure of Milgram’s baseline study?

Answer 2

Milgram recruited 40 men from New Haven, America.