Answer to Question #313758 in Psychology for Nina

Question

In the Milgram obedience study, a part of why there was so much obedience to authority was because of trust the participant had in the experiments.Give reasons why they trusted him so much?

Answer 1

Though there was an element of hurting another person, most subjects in the famous milgram experiment were seen to obey the commands of the experimenter and go on doing their job which were assumedly hurting someone else.

In everyday situations, people obey orders because they want to get rewards, because they want to avoid the negative consequences of disobeying, and because they believe an authority is legitimate. In more extreme situations, people obey even when they are required to violate their own values or commit crimes.

According to Milgram, there are some situational factors that can explain such high levels of obedience: The physical presence of an authority figure dramatically increased compliance, The fact that Yale (a trusted and authoritative academic institution) sponsored the study led many participants to believe that the experiment must be safe, The selection of teacher and learner status seemed random, Participants assumed that the experimenter was a competent expert, and The shocks were said to be painful, not dangerous.