What is a major problem with the original Milgram study?
Group of answer choices
Milgram falsified his results, making his study unreliable.
Milgram lied to his respondents, making his study borderline unethical.
Milgram never published his finding, making his reported results questionable.
Milgram was too truthful with his subjects, making his study invalid.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answer: Milgram lied to his respondents, making his study borderline unethical.
Explanation:
The major problem with the original Milgram study lies in its ethical considerations, particularly the deception used during the experiment. Stanley Milgram conducted his obedience experiments in the early 1960s to understand how ordinary people could commit atrocious acts simply by following orders, as seen during the Holocaust. His goal was to investigate how far individuals would go in obeying an authority figure, even if it meant harming another person.
In the study, participants were told they were part of a learning experiment and were assigned the role of a “teacher,” while a confederate (an actor working with Milgram) was the “learner.” The teacher was instructed to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to the learner whenever they answered a question incorrectly. Unbeknownst to the participant, the learner was not actually receiving shocks, but would scream, plead, and eventually go silent—staged reactions meant to mimic real pain and distress.
The deception came in several forms: participants were misled about the true purpose of the study, the nature of the “shocks,” and the identity of the learner. Many participants were visibly distressed, sweating, trembling, or even breaking into nervous laughter or tears, yet they continued due to the pressure from the authoritative figure (the experimenter).
Because of this deception, the Milgram study has been criticized as borderline unethical, despite its significant contributions to understanding obedience and human behavior. At the time, ethical standards for psychological research were not as strict as they are today, but the study led to reforms in how research involving human participants is conducted. Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) now require informed consent, full disclosure, and the right to withdraw at any time, all of which were violated in Milgram’s experiment.
In summary, while Milgram’s study was groundbreaking, its deceptive methods raise serious ethical concerns that overshadow its scientific contributions.