In a famous experiment, Stanley Milgram[1]
studied to what extent people obey orders which are clearly wrong. Milgram used
volunteers divided into pairs, the first volunteer was asked to play the role
of the teacher, while the second volunteer was the student. The student was
taken to a nearby room and seated on a kind of electric chair, then entrusted
with the task of memorizing a list of words. The teacher was given the task of
listening to the student and of sending electric shocks when he was wrong.
The teacher used a switch. At the first error he was asked to
send a shock of 15 volts, then 30 volts for the second error, 45 volts for the
third error and so on, with regular successions up to 450 volts. Every six
increases in the intensity of the shock a voice warned: weak shock, medium
shock, strong shock, dangerous shock.
Milgram explained to the teacher that the intensity of the
shock had to be increased with each error. When the list was long and
difficult, the answers were often wrong and the teacher was asked to send
stronger and stronger shocks. At 75 volts the students started complaining, at
150 volts they asked to interrupt the experiment, but Milgram ordered to
continue. At 180 volts, the students started screaming because they couldn’t
stand the pain anymore. If the teacher showed any hesitation, Milgram ordered
to continue, even when the students, at 300 volts, shouted desperately to be
freed.
The purpose of the experiment was to study to what extent the
teacher was willing to follow orders. The teacher did not know that the student
was a collaborator of Milgram and that he received no electric shocks. The
student was in another room, his prayers and screams were not real but they
were recorded.
A group of psychiatrists estimated in advance that most
teachers would stop at 150 volts, when the students started shouting for help.
The results of the experiment, however, were surprisingly different: over 80%
of the teachers continued the experiment even after 150 volts, and 62%
continued up to 450 volts.
However, it was not easy to obey. Many teachers began to
sweat, but were ordered to continue to increase the intensity of the shocks.
Disobedience was easier when Milgram was not present and when orders were given
by telephone, from a nearby room. Many teachers claimed to execute orders, but
the students received weaker shocks than they should have. On the other hand,
teachers obeyed more easily if the victims were far away; 30% agreed to force
students to hold hands on a metal plate that was supposed to transmit very
strong shocks, but if the victim was in another room and the protest was
limited to kicking the wall, the percentage of obedience exceeded 60%.
Results showed that the
“need for approval” was so strong that teachers were unable to disobey orders
which were clearly wrong.
The Vital Needs Theory - page 15