Describe the benefit and two major risks associated with the original obedience experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram, then identify three of the recent adaptations made by Jerry Burger in his replication of the obedience studies.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The benefit of the obedience studies was to determine the conditions under which people obey authority figures. Milgram wanted to understand what occurred in the Holocaust, when people's obedience resulted in massive atrocities. Burger sought to determine whether people obey authority figures in our present day. The two main risks associated with the Milgram study include deception and the high risk of psychological stress. Participants believed the "learner" was being shocked and they felt great stress as they obeyed the instruction to continue shocking the learner. Burger made several adaptations to lessen the risk in his obedience studies and make them acceptable to an IRB: participants were carefully screened prior to the study; participants were told they could withdraw at any time without penalty (and were paid prior to starting the study); a mild sample shock was used; the deception was explained immediately; a clinical psychologist conducted the experiment and stopped the experiment if a participant demonstrated excessive distress; and Burger stopped the experiment when participants reached 150 volts (rather than 450).