Obedience to Authority

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by Stanley Milgram


  Authority as Victim (Experiment 14), 94–95 (table), 99–104, 110

  Automata, 126–127, 128, 129, 131, 132; see also Cybernetics

  Autonomy, vs. agentic state, 133

  Avoidance, 158

  Batta, Bruno, 45–47

  Baumrind, Diana, 193, 209, 212

  Berkowitz, L., 167

  Bettelheim, B., 158

  Bierstedt, R., 211

  Binding factors, 148

  Brandt, Gretchen, 84–85

  Braverman, Morris, 52–54

  Breakoff points, in obedience experiment, 28, 29 (table), 32, 40, 57, 60, 61 (table)

  Bridgeport, obedience experiment at, 68, 69, 70, 171 (table)

  Brotzman, E., 207

  Buffers, 156–157, 183

  Bureaucracy, destructive, 121, 122

  Buss, A. H., 167

  Caine Mutiny, The (Wouk), 208–209

  Calley, William, 184, 211

  Cannon, W. B., 126

  Change of Personnel (Experiment 6), 58–59, 60–61 (table), 171 (table)

  Closeness of Authority, see Experiment 7

  Cognitive field, denial and narrowing of, 38

  Commands, 146

  Conformity: distinguished from obedience, 113–115, 207; as imitation, 114; and voluntarism, 115

  Conscience (superego), 127, 128, 129, 132, 146, 165, 209

  Control condition, see Experiment 11

  Control panel, diagram of, 28

  Conversion, 161

  Counteranthropomorphism, 8

  Crawford, Thomas, quoted, 201

  Cybernetics, 125–128, 131, 133; see also Automata

  Dalrymple, S., 207

  “Dangers of Obedience, The” (Laski), 189

  Debriefing, 24, 191

  Delacroix, Eugène, 113

  Democracy, 179, 204

  Denial, 158, 173–174

  Dicks, H. V., 177; quoted, 177–178

  Disobedience, 14, 208; and anxiety, 152; in children, 205; strain ended by, 157, 162–164; see also Agentic state; Authority; Hierarchy; Obedience; Obedience experiment

  Dissent, 161

  Dogs of Pavlov, The (Abse), 198

  Dontz, Karen, 77–79

  Double authority, see Two Authorities

  Dr. Strangelove (film), 7

  Ego ideal, 147; group ideal substituted for, 131

  Eichmann, 5, 6, 11, 54, 178, 186

  Eichmann in Jerusalem (Arendt), 5

  Elms, Alan, 204, 213; quoted, 203–204

  Embarrassment, and obedience, 151, 187, 209

  Empathic cues, in obedience experiment, 36, 38

  English, H. B., 208

  Erikson, Milton, quoted, 201

  Errera, Paul, 212

  Ethics in research, problems of, 193–202

  Etiquette, 149, 152

  Etzioni, Amitai, quoted, 201

  Experiment, obedience, see Obedience experiment

  Experiment 1 (Remote-Feedback), 32, 35 (table), 36, 38, 39, 171 (table)

  Experiment 2 (Voice-Feedback), 22–23, 34, 35 (table), 36, 57, 173; Braverman’s behavior in, 52–54; psychiatrists’ predictions of behavior in, 27, 30, 31; Rensaleer’s behavior in, 50–52; and subjects’ estimates of pain felt by victim, 171, 171 (table); Washington’s behavior in, 49–50

  Experiment 3 (Proximity), 34, 35 (table), 36, 38, 39; subject’s behavior in, 47–49; and subjects’ estimates of pain felt by victim, 171 (table)

  Experiment 4 (Touch-Proximity), 34, 35 (table), 36, 39, 188; Batta’s behavior in, 45–47; and subjects’ estimates of pain felt by victim, 171 (table)

  Experiment 5 (New Base-Line Condition), 55–57, 59, 60–61 (table), Prozi’s behavior in, 73–77; and subjects’ estimates of pain felt by victim, 171 (table)

  Experiment 6 (Change of Personnel), 58–59, 60–61 (table), 171 (table)

  Experiment 7 (Closeness of Authority), 59–62, 60–61 (table), 159, 209; Gino’s behavior in, 86–88; and subjects’ estimates of pain felt by victim, 171 (table)

  Experiment 8 (Women as Subjects), 60–61 (table), 62–63; Brandt’s behavior in, 84–85; Dontz’s behavior in, 77–79; Rosenblum’s behavior in, 79–84; and subjects’ estimates of pain felt by victim, 171 (table)

  Experiment 9 (Victim’s Limited Contract), 60–61 (table), 63–66; subject’s behavior in, 65–66

  Experiment 10 (Institutional Context), 60–61 (table), 66–70

  Experiment 11 (Subject Free to Choose Shock Level), 60–61 (table), 70–72, 166

  Experiment 12 (Learner Demands to Be Shocked), 90–92, 94–95 (table)

  Experiment 13 (Ordinary Man Gives Orders), 93, 94–95 (table), 96–97

  Experiment 13a (Subject as Bystander), 94–95 (table), 97–99

  Experiment 14 (Authority as Victim), 94–95 (table), 99–104, 110

  Experiment 15 (Two Authorities: Contradictory Commands), 94–95 (table), 105–107, 110, 111

  Experiment 16 (Two Authorities: One as Victim), 94–95 (table), 107–110, 111

  Experiment 17 (Two Peers Rebel), 116–121; behavior of confederates in, 117–119; and reactions of naïve subject to defiant peers, 118, 120–121; shocks administered in, 119; technique for, 116–118, 120–121

  Experiment 18 (Peer Administers Shock), 119 (table), 121–122

  Experimentation with Human Beings (Katz), 211

  Explicitness, in obedience, 114–115

  F-scale, 201

  Family, as antecedent of obedience, 135–136

  Fascism, 204

  Feinberg, I., 63

  Festinger, L., 208

  Freud, Sigmund, 113, 131, 208

  Gandhi, Mahatma, 113

  Garfinkel, H., 208

  Generalizing from the experiment, 174–178

  Ghost in the Machine, The (Koestler), 208

  Gino, Pasqual, 86–88

  Glasser, R. J., 180

  Goffman, Erving, 150, 209

  Graves, N., 207

  Greece, ancient, 124

  Group effects, 113–122

  Group formation, 39

  Group ideal, substituted for ego ideal, 131

  Group Psychology (Freud), 131, 209

  Halberstam, David, 180

  Hall, Edward T., 206

  “Heart problem,” in obedience experiment, 55, 56, 57

  Hidden Dimension, The (Hall), 206

  Hierarchy: and obedience, 114, 123–125, 128–130, 131; survival value of, 123–125; see also Agentic state; Authority; Disobedience; Obedience experiment

  Hilberg, R., 187

  Hitler, Adolf, 130, 155, 176, 211; see also Nazism

  Hobbes, Thomas, 2

  Hofling, Charles K., 207

  Holland, C. C., 210

  Homans, G. C., 121

  Homeostatic model, 126

  Hoodlums, predatory, groups of, 121

  Imitation, conformity as, 114

  Indifference, zone of, 208

  Individuals, patterns among, 201–203;

  individuals confront authority, 44–54, 73–88

  Informed Heart, The (Bettelheim), 158

  Inhibition, passive, 40

  Institutional Context (Experiment 10), 60–61 (table), 66–70

  Interaction Laboratory, of Yale University, 16, 55

  Internalization of social order, 138

  International Journal of Psychiatry, 201

  Jews, and Nazism, 2, 9, 158, 187, 211

  Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 207

  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 209, 210

  Journal of Social Issues, 206, 210

  Katz, Jay, 212

  Kelman, Herbert, 201, 202, 212; quoted, 211

  Kilham, W., 207, 210

  King, R. C., 206

  Koestler, Arthur, 209

  Kohlberg, Lawrence, 205

  Language, modification of, 187

  Laski, Harold J., quoted, 189

  Laughter, 52–54

  Lawrence, L., 211

  Lazarus, R., 193

  Learner Demands to Be Shocked (Expe
riment 12), 90–92, 94–95 (table)

  Legitimacy of authority, how communicated, 205

  Lerner, N. J., 210

  Lorenz, Konrad, 210

  Lynch mob, 121

  Mann, L., 207, 210

  Mantell, D. M., 171, 206, 210

  Marler, P., 123

  Methods, general principles, 13f.; problems of, 169–178

  Miller, Arthur G., 202, 212

  Miller, N., 42

  Modigliani, Andre, 209

  Moral judgment, 6, 153, 155

  My Lai massacre, 176, 183, 186, 211

  Nazism, 2, 9, 52, 85, 158, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179 187; see also Hitler, Adolf

  New Base-Line Condition, see Experiment 5

  Nuremberg trials, 8, 176

  Obedience, 14; and agentic state, see Agentic state; analysis of, 123–134; antecedent conditions of, 135–143; and anxiety, 152; and authority, perception of, 138–140; binding factors in, 7, 148–152; conformity distinguished from, 113–115, 207; and cybernetic viewpoint, 125–128, 131, 133; and embarrassment, 209; explicitness in, 114–115; family as antecedent of, 135–136; and hierarchy, 114, 123–125, 128–130, 131; ideological justification for, 142; institutional setting for, 137; and perception of authority, 138–140; process of, 135–152; and reward structure, 137–138; and strain, see Strain; and variability, 130–132; and Vietnam War, 180–186, 211, 212; and voluntarism, 115; see also Authority; Disobedience; Obedience experiment

  Obedience experiment: and acquired behavior dispositions, 40; action as element of, 89, 90, 149; and behavior dispositions, acquired, 40; break-off points in, 28, 29 (table), 32, 40, 57, 60–61 (table); at Bridgeport, 68, 69, 70, 171 (table); criticisms of, 169–170, 193 ff., 196 ff.; empathic cues in, 36, 38; and experienced unity of act, 39; experimenter’s role in, 16, 21; feedback from experimenter in, 21; feedback from victim in, 22–23; in Germany, 171, 207; and group-formation, incipient, 39–40; “heart problem” in, 55, 56, 57; and incipient group-formation, 39–40; and Interaction Laboratory, 16; learning task in, 19–20, 22; measures in, for subject, 23–24; method of inquiry in, 13–26; obedience analysis applied to, 135–152; participants obtained for, 14–16, 170; position as element of, 89, 90; procedure in, 17–19; and psychiatrists’ predictions, 27, 30, 31; reciprocal fields in, 38–39; sample shock in, 20; and sequential nature of action, 149; shock generator used in, 20, 23, 27, 157, 159; shock instructions in, 20–21; and situational obligations, 149–152; special prods in, 21–22; status as element of, 89, 90; and strain, see Strain; subject’s role in, 17–19, 23–24; tension of subject in, 41–43; unexpected behavior in, 40–43; victim’s role in, see Victim in obedience experiment; see also Agentic state; Authority; Disobedience; Experiments 1–18, Hierarchy; Obedience

  On Aggression (Lorenz), 210

  Ordinary Man Gives Orders (Experiment 13), 93, 94–95 (table), 96–97

  Orne, M. I., 210

  Orwell, George, 11; quoted, 11–12

  Pain, subjects’ estimate of, 171

  Parevson, Rosetta, 210

  Passive inhibition, 40

  Patterns among individuals, 202–204

  Peer Administers Shock (Experiment 18), 119 (table), 121–122

  Permutations of roles, 89–112, 167

  Pierce, C., 207

  Plato, 2

  Position, in obedience experiment, 89, 90

  Predictions of behavior, 27–31, 207

  Proximity, see Experiments 1–4

  Prozi, Fred, 73–77

  Psychiatrists’ predictions, of behavior in Voice-Feedback Experiment, 27, 30, 31

  Reciprocal fields, in obedience experiment, 38–39

  Remote-Feedback (Experiment 1), 32, 35 (table), 36, 38, 39, 171 (table)

  Rensaleer, Jan, 50–52

  Responsibility, 46, 50, 51, 76, 77, 85, 87, 134, 163, 187; loss of, 7–8, 145–147

  Responsibility clock, 203

  Reward structure, and obedience, 137–138

  Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Shirer), 2

  Role permutations, 89–112, 167

  Roles, 153

  Rosenblum, Elinor, 79–84

  Rosenhan, David, 172, 173, 210

  Rosenthal, R., 170

  Rosnow, R. L., 170

  Scott, J. P., 40

  Sequential nature of action, 149

  Sheridan, C. L., 206

  Shirer, William, 2

  Shock generator, in obedience experiment, 20, 23, 27, 157, 159

  Shock levels: in Experiments 1–4, 35 (table); in Experiments 5–11, 60–61 (table); in Experiments 12–16, 94–95 (table); in Experiments 17–18, 119 (table)

  Simon, Herbert A., 208

  Situational obligations, 149–152

  Snow, C. P., 1; quoted, 2

  Social order, internalization of, 138

  Social Psychology and Social Relevance (Elms), 202, 204, 212

  Social Psychology of Psychological Research (Miller, ed.), 202, 210, 212

  Sociometry, 209

  Stalin, Joseph, 155

  Status, in obedience experiment, 89, 90

  Stogdill, R. M., 208

  Strain, 153–164; and avoidance, 158; buffers of, 156–157; and denial, 158–159; disobedience as means of ending, 157, 162–164; and dissent, 161–162; physical expressions of, 161; resolution of, 157–161; sources of, 155–156; and subterfuges, 159–160

  Subject as Bystander (Experiment 13a), 94–95 (table), 97–99

  Subject Free to Choose Shock Level (Experiment 11), 60–61 (table), 70–72, 166

  Subjects: how recruited, 14; age and occupation, 16; representativeness of, 170

  Subterfuges, 159

  Superego (conscience), 127, 128, 129, 132, 146, 165, 209

  Tables: on breakoff points, 29; on Experiments 1–4, 35; on Experiments 5–11, 60–61; on Experiments 12–16, 94–95; on Experiments 17–18, 119; on questionnaire in follow-up study of obedience research, 195; on responses to question on belief, 172; on responsibility by defiant and obedient subjects, 203; on subjects estimates of pain felt by victim, 171

  Taylor, T., 180

  Tinbergen, N., 123

  Tocqueville, Alexis de, 207

  Touch-Proximity, see Experiment 4

  Trobrianders, 142

  Two Authorities: Contradictory Commands (Experiment 15), 94–95 (table), 105–107, 110, 111

  Two Authorities: One as Victim (Experiment 16), 94–95 (table), 107–110, 111

  Two Peers Rebel, see Experiment 17

  Variability, 130–132

  Victim in obedience experiment, 16, 17; authority as, 94–95 (table), 99–105; closeness of, 32–43; devaluation of, 9; feedback from, 22–23, 56–57; as “learner,” 18, 19, 22; and limited contract, see Experiment 9; live puppy, 203–204; protests of, 22; subjects’ estimates of pain felt by, 171 (table), 171–172

  Vietnam War, 180–186, 211, 212

  Voice-Feedback, see Experiment 2

  Voluntarism, 115

  Wallace, Mike, 183

  Washington, Jack, 49–50

  Wiener, Norbert, 125

  Wirz, Henry, 186, 212

  Women as Subjects, see Experiment 8

  Wouk, Herman, 208

  Yale Interaction Laboratory, 16, 55

  About the Author

  STANLEY MILGRAM (1933–1984) received his PhD in psychology from Harvard University. He taught at Yale, where he conducted his famous Milgram Experiment on obedience to authority, and Harvard, where he performed his “Small World Experiment,” which yielded the concept of “six degrees of separation.” Milgram later served as Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He received several honors and awards, including a Ford Foundation Fellowship, an American Association for the Advancement of Science Socio-Psychological Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Obedience to Authority is his best-known book.

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  Credits

  Cover design by Milan Bozic

  Copyri
ght

  The Mike Wallace interview in Chapter 15 is © 1969 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.

  A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1974 by Harper & Row, Publishers.

  OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY. Copyright © 1974 by Stanley Milgram. Foreword © 2009 by Philip Zimbardo. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  First Perennial Classics edition published 2004.

  First Harper Perennial Modern Thought edition published 2009.

  The Library of Congress has catalogued the previous edition as follows:

  Milgram, Stanley

  Obedience to authority : an experimental view / Stanley Milgram. p. cm. — (Perennial classic)

  Originally published: New York : Harper & Row, 1974.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 0-06-073728-X

  1. Authority. 2. Obedience. I. Title. II. Series.

  HM 1251.M53 2004

  202.3'6—dc22

  2004051001

  ISBN 978-0-06-176521-6 (pbk.)

  EPub Edition July 2017 ISBN 978-0-06-280340-5

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