just fix it and add one pages more

Running head: BEHAVIORAL STUDY OF OBEDIENCE 0

Obedience binds men to the systems of authority. The study aim at studying obedience by a laboratory experiment in which the subjects administers the shock to the victim until the maximum shock point the subject refuses to continue with the experiment. The subjects who fully obeyed the experimental commands are obedient, and those who declined to continue with the commands after a while are disobedient (Milgram, 1963). Authoritarianism; obedience to authority against will, correspond to this experiment.

The major hypothesis for this experiment is that the subjects will obey the experimental command administer to the victims the highest shock on the generator. Another hypothesis is that the victims will positively respond to the experiment.

According to Milgram, the study sample subjects comprised of 40 males between 20 and 50 years of age all from New Haven and neighboring communities. Newspaper advertisement, as well as direct mail solicitation, were the means of obtaining the subjects. The sample represented a broad range of occupations including postal clerks, teachers, engineers, and laborers. Also, the educational level of the subjects ranged from those who did not complete the elementary school to doctorate level (1963).

Procedure

The experiment took place in an elegant interaction laboratory in Yale University. The experiment is performed by ordering a naïve subject to administer an electric shock to a victim. The subjects picked papers from a hat to determine the teacher and the learner in the experiment, but the naïve subject was the teacher and the accomplice the learner. The naïve subject is given the orders to administer the shocks to the learner in the learning experiment set up to find out the effects punishment has in the memory. The learned was strapped into an electric chair to avoid excess movements and electrode attached to the waist of the learner which was connected to the shock generator which is labeled a range of 15 and 450 volts. Electrode paste is administered to avoid burns and blisters. The teacher administers an increasingly intense shock to the learner to a severe shock level. At the point prior to the subject refusing to continue with the experiment is obedience and the point at which the subject refuses is disobedience (Milgram, 1963).

From the experiment, 26 subjects abandoned their moral conduct of hurting another human against his will and followed the instructions of authority with no powers of enforcing his command. Some subjects expressed disapproval of the experiment and others complied with experimental commands but showed a sign of relief after the experiment. It is evident that the participants are always acting against their values in punishing the victims. Another finding is that there was tension as well as emotional strain among the subjects (Milgram, 1963).

First, there was miscommunication between the researcher and the participant in selection. The subjects were meant to understand that upon selection they were to take part in the study of memory and learning with no details of the experiment involved. Therefore, they volunteered to participate with little clue on the experiment hence it was their obligation to take part in the experiment. The study subjects were not inclusive as it comprised of only male participants and limited age bracket. Therefore, the findings of the experiment is not a representative of the whole population. The selected subjects are from New Haven and its surroundings which many have ties to the University thereby affecting the authenticity of the results. The researcher should communicate in details about the experiment so that the subjects can volunteer knowing what they are getting into and the study should include both men and women for better results and representation of the whole population. Also, the study should be conducted in other areas with little ties to the university to ensure the authenticity of the findings.

References

Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral Study of obedience. The Journal of abnormal and social psychology, 67(4), 371-378.