How the Milgram 'obedience' experiment shocked the world

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1961, the American psychologist Stanley Milgram began a series of controversial experiments on ‘obedience to authority’.

His study aimed to show how ordinary people could be capable of committing evil acts, if ordered to do so.

He wanted to understand the psychology behind genocide, telling the BBC: “How is it possible that ordinary people who were courteous and decent in everyday life, can act callously, inhumanely, without any limitations of conscience?”

During the tests, participants were led to believe that they were assisting an unrelated experiment, in which they had to administer electric shocks to another person.

These fake shocks gradually increased to levels that would have been harmful had they been real volunteers.

Vicky Farncombe looks back at the experiment, using BBC archive.

This programme includes original recordings of the experiments which listeners may find disturbing.

(Photo: Stanley Milgram beside the shock generator. Credit: BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Helena Bonkarter and this is history's secret heroes.
0:07.0	In this series we'll hear stories of daring secret missions and
0:15.0	re-
0:17.0	re-emptic high-ranking codebreaker
0:18.0	and Riemont the escape artist
0:21.0	interned in a German camp.
0:23.9	Tales of danger, dynamism and downright determination.
0:27.8	The new series of history's secret heroes.
0:30.5	Listen first on BBC on BBC Sounds.
0:33.0	You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Vicky Farncombe.
0:44.0	I'm taking you back more than 60 years
0:47.0	to when the American psychologist Stanley Milgram
0:50.0	began a series of obedience experiments at Yale University.
0:55.0	In the controversial study, an authority figure ordered volunteers
1:00.0	to deliver what they believed were dangerous electric shocks to another person.
1:04.6	I'll be playing the original recordings of the experiments,
1:08.0	and you may find the content disturbing.
1:10.5	Neely, you're going to get a shot, under an 80 volts.
1:14.0	Oh, I can't stand the pain.
1:18.0	Let me out of it.
1:19.0	I'm not going to kill that man.
1:21.0	This is a clip from Stanley Milgram's famous obedience to authority research.
	...

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