The Milgram Experiment, conducted by Stanley Milgram at Yale in 1962, involved three participants: a teacher, a learner, and an experimenter, and was designed to explore obedience and compliance under the pretense of studying the effects of punishment on learning. Participants were compensated $4.50, equivalent to about $24 today, and were misled about the true nature of the experiment. The findings highlighted the power of authority in eliciting obedience, even in unethical contexts.

2. The Milgram Experiment
• Stanley Milgram conducted several
experiments at Yale in 1962.
• Format: three people were in a simple
situation:
– The “teacher,” whose job was to read a list of
word pairs to the…
– “Learner,” or “student,” Mr. Wallace, whose
job was to memorize the list.
– The “experimenter,” Mr Williams, a tall guy in
a lab coat who was in charge of everything.

3. The Milgram Experiment
• Participants were paid $4.50.
– Equivalent to about $24.00 today.
– Money was paid up front.
• The experiment was supposedly about the effect of
punishment on learning and memory.
• The experiment was actually about obedience and
compliance.
– Obedience: the act of doing what you’re told.
– Compliance: the same as obedience, but with a legal or
ethical component.