Milgrams Study Essay

Stanley Milgram’s study on Obedience In a recent issue of American psychologist, Diana Baumrind (1964) raised a number of questions concerning the obedience report. (Milgram). Many would argue that Stanley Milgram’s experiment was unethical, because they believe that the research caused the subjects psychological stress that was not resolved after the study, however, I beg to differ.In his own words Stanley Milgram said, “In my judgment, at no point were subjects exposed to danger and at no point did they run the risk of injurious effects resulting from participation. If it had been otherwise, the experiment would have been terminated at once. ” Not to mention, he made a very important point about obedience.

Stanley Milgram had an impartial medical examiner to do a follow-up study on the subjects a year after they had participated in his research to find out if his experiment led to any possible injurious effects.The examiner concluded that, “although extreme stress had been experienced by several subjects, none was found by this interviewer to show signs of having been harmed by his experience…” Stanley’s obedience study was indeed mind-boggling, but he made a valuable point that man should not allow an higher authority figure gaining so much control and forcing them to do something immoral and against their will. “This experiment has strengthened my belief that man should avoid harm to his fellow man even at the risk of violating authority. ” (Milgrm). To me, the experiment pointed up…the extent to which each individual should have or discover firm ground on which to base his decisions, no matter how trivial they appear to be. I think people should think more deeply about themselves and their relation to their world and to other people. If this experiment serves to jar people out of complacency, it will have served its end.

”(Milgram).In no way did I saw Milgram’s experiment as unethical, and neither did majority of the subjects that participated in the experiment, if that was the case then they would not have favored the experiment. Further, four fifths of the subjects felt that more experiments of this sort should be carried out, and 74% indicated that they had learned something of personal importance as a result of being in the study. ” (Milgram). Classic Dialogue: Was Stanley Milgram’s Study of Obedience Unethical? (Diana Baumrind , Stanley ‘milgram), Issue 2, 1964, pp. 34-38.

From American Psychology by Stanley Milgram, vol. 19, 1964, pp. 848-852. 1964 by Alexander Milgram.

Issues in the study of Obedience: A reply to Baumrind by Stanley Milgram, pp. 34-38.