Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today?

Abstract

The author conducted a partial replication of Stanley Milgram's (1963, 1965, 1974) obedience studies that allowed for useful comparisons with the original investigations while protecting the well-being of participants. Seventy adults participated in a replication of Milgram's Experiment 5 up to the point at which they first heard the learner's verbal protest (150 volts). Because 79% of Milgram's participants who went past this point continued to the end of the shock generator's range, reasonable estimates could be made about what the present participants would have done if allowed to continue. Obedience rates in the 2006 replication were only slightly lower than those Milgram found 45 years earlier. Contrary to expectation, participants who saw a confederate refuse the experimenter's instructions obeyed as often as those who saw no model. Men and women did not differ in their rates of obedience, but there was some evidence that individual differences in empathic concern and desire for control affected participants' responses.

Time of Semester as a Factor in Participants’ Obedience to Instructions to Perform an Aversive Task

“…The January 2009 issue of American Psychologist offered a series of commentaries on one such experiment by Burger (2009) that recreated many of the procedural elements of Milgram's most famous experiments. As stated by Burger in the title of his article, the goal of his approach was "replicating Milgram."…”

El Efecto Del Deseo De Control en El Desarrollo De Competencias

“…Los estudios llevados a cabo muestran la relevancia de esta variable en diversos ámbitos de la vida humana, ya que es capaz de establecer diferencias en el número de agresiones que se producen en casos de maltrato físico (Ogle y Clements, 2007), en el grado de obediencia a un líder (Burger, 2009), en la dosis de sedación en pacientes que se encuentran en la UCI (Green, Gidron, Friger y Almog, 2005) o en el nivel de satisfacción, desempeño y dominio de una tarea (Parker, Jimmieson y Amiot, 2009). En este último estudio, encuentran que las personas con alto deseo de control se sienten más satisfechas con la tarea que realizan y obtienen mejores resultados.…”

Moral Satisficing: Rethinking Moral Behavior as Bounded Rationality

“…For instance, in one condition of the obedience experiment, a confederate participant was introduced who sat next to the real participant and refused to continue the experiment after pressing the 90-V switch and hearing the learner's groan (Burger, 2009). This situation might trigger both imitate-your-peers and if a person is an authority, follow requests, which are conflicting behaviors.…”