Facts about the Milgram Experiment
- 07
Stanley Milgram's 1965 study demonstrated that participants who were merely required to read the shock script aloud instead of administering it themselves showed near-zero stress responses, revealing the critical role of direct action in producing obedience.
- 06
Milgram's 1963 variation revealed that when an experimenter gave orders by telephone rather than in person, obedience dropped to 21 percent compliance with maximum voltage.
- 05
Participants in Milgram's obedience experiments reported experiencing extreme stress, with some exhibiting nervous laughter, trembling, and sweating despite believing they were merely learning about punishment and memory.
- 04
Milgram's follow-up studies in 1962 revealed that when participants could see the learner in the same room, compliance with maximum shock levels dropped to 40 percent from the original 65 percent.
- 03
Yale University's institutional review board did not oversee Milgram's obedience studies in 1961-1962, as formal ethics review boards for human subjects research did not yet exist.
- 02
Approximately 65 percent of Milgram's participants continued administering shocks up to the maximum 450-volt level despite hearing screams from the learner.
- 01
In 1961, Stanley Milgram recruited 40 male participants from New Haven, Connecticut to study obedience by administering what they believed were real electric shocks to learners.