Fri Nov 24, 2006
We watched this video in our research course today. I managed to track down the original 1962 video and am posting it here because it is absolutely fascinating. Ever wonder wonder how much pain somebody will afflict on another merely because they were told to do so by an authority figure? Stanley Milgram, observed the Nuremberg Trials and wondered the same thing. How could so many Nazis, seemingly decent, ordinary people, justify the slaughter of others. They said that they were “just following orders”. Stanley Milgram conducted the following experiment in the United States, confident that the results would show that Americans were vastly more humane than Europeans.
That wasn’t the case.
The results are startling and a grim reminder that people will do just about anything, just because they are told to do so. Even more disturbing is that this kind of research was allowed to take place back then.
Enjoy. And if you’re in Print Futures, this video is on the exam.
Stanley Milgram’s 1962 experiment on the influence of authority figures.