1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,795 NARRATOR: In a unique period from the early '60s to the early '70s, 2 00:00:03,795 --> 00:00:07,220 a group of social scientists conducted a series of experiments, 3 00:00:07,220 --> 00:00:09,900 examining the nature of human behavior and 4 00:00:09,900 --> 00:00:13,880 its relationship to social conventions and situations. 5 00:00:14,350 --> 00:00:16,980 PATIENT SEATED IN DENTAL CHAIR: In this setting, I allow things to be done to 6 00:00:16,980 --> 00:00:18,920 me that I wouldn't allow in any other context. 7 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:23,280 The dentist is about to put an electric drill into my mouth. 8 00:00:24,710 --> 00:00:30,440 MAN SEATED IN BARBER SHOP: In this setting, I willingly expose my throat to a man with a razor blade. 9 00:00:32,060 --> 00:00:36,880 NARRATOR: Stanley Milgram, one of the most influential social psychologists of the time, 10 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,460 was particularly fascinated with the dangers of 11 00:00:39,460 --> 00:00:42,745 group behavior and blind obedience to authority. 12 00:00:42,745 --> 00:00:45,760 STANLEY MILGRAM: What is there in human nature that allows 13 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,020 an individual to act without any restraints whatsoever, 14 00:00:49,020 --> 00:00:52,780 so that he can act inhumanely, harshly, 15 00:00:52,780 --> 00:00:57,380 severely, and in no way limited by feelings of compassion or conscience? 16 00:00:57,380 --> 00:01:02,700 These are questions [INAUDIBLE]. MAN PARTAKING IN EXPERIMENT: But he might be dead in there. EXPERIMENTER: The experiment requires that you continue, please. 17 00:01:02,700 --> 00:01:06,440 MAN PARTAKING IN EXPERIMENT: Three hundred and thirty volts. 18 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:08,810 NARRATOR: The experiments that Milgram and others conducted were 19 00:01:08,810 --> 00:01:15,010 controversial and for ethical reasons may never be conducted again. 20 00:01:15,010 --> 00:01:18,770 Yet the results of those experiments remain groundbreaking, 21 00:01:18,770 --> 00:01:22,130 profoundly revealing about the tensions between the individual and 22 00:01:22,130 --> 00:01:26,630 society and increasingly relevant to contemporary life. 23 00:01:31,770 --> 00:01:37,800 In 1962, Stanley Milgram shocked the world with his study on obedience. 24 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:39,740 To test his theories, 25 00:01:39,740 --> 00:01:44,800 he invented a new [INAUDIBLE] that would become a window into human cruelty. 26 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:50,040 In ascending order, a row of buttons marked 27 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,000 the amount of voltage one person would inflict upon another. 28 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,940 Milgram's original motive for the experiment was to understand the unthinkable— 29 00:02:00,940 --> 00:02:05,880 how the German people could permit the extermination of the Jews. 30 00:02:08,570 --> 00:02:12,750 STANLEY INGRAM: When I learn of incidents such as the massacre of millions of men, 31 00:02:12,750 --> 00:02:16,310 women, and children perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II, 32 00:02:16,310 --> 00:02:18,190 how is it possible, I ask myself, that 33 00:02:18,190 --> 00:02:21,970 ordinary people who are courteous and decent in everyday life, 34 00:02:21,970 --> 00:02:24,730 can act callously, inhumanely, 35 00:02:24,730 --> 00:02:27,710 without any limitations of conscience? 36 00:02:27,860 --> 00:02:30,940 Now there are some studies in my discipline, 37 00:02:30,940 --> 00:02:35,180 social psychology that seem to provide a clue to this question. 38 00:02:36,750 --> 00:02:39,840 The problem I wanted to study was a little different. 39 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,960 It went a little bit further. It was the issue of authority. 40 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,440 Under what conditions would a person obey 41 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,680 authority who commanded actions that went against conscience? 42 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:53,150 These are exactly the questions that I wanted to investigate at Yale University. 43 00:02:54,590 --> 00:02:57,530 PRESENTER: It is May 1962, 44 00:02:57,530 --> 00:02:59,450 an experiment is being conducted in 45 00:02:59,450 --> 00:03:02,810 the Elegant Interaction Laboratory at Yale University. 46 00:03:02,810 --> 00:03:04,710 The subjects are 40 males 47 00:03:04,710 --> 00:03:08,330 between the ages of 20 and 50 residing in the Greater New Haven area. 48 00:03:08,330 --> 00:03:12,510 EXPERIMENTER: Psychologists have developed several theories to explain how people learn. 49 00:03:12,510 --> 00:03:14,230 One theory is that people learn things 50 00:03:14,230 --> 00:03:16,660 correctly whenever they get punished for making a mistake. 51 00:03:16,660 --> 00:03:20,490 NARRATOR: Forty years later, Milgram's infamous experiment, "Obedience", 52 00:03:20,490 --> 00:03:23,575 is still taught in classrooms around the world. 53 00:03:23,575 --> 00:03:27,570 EXPERIMENTER: Would you open those and tell me which of you is which, please? 54 00:03:27,570 --> 00:03:29,375 TEACHER: Teacher. LEARNER: Learner. 55 00:03:29,375 --> 00:03:31,600 EXPERIMENTER: Now the next thing we'll have to do is set 56 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,650 the learner up so that he can get some sort of punishment. 57 00:03:34,650 --> 00:03:36,180 DR. THOMAS BLASS: What inspired Milgram, 58 00:03:36,180 --> 00:03:37,740 I would say there were a number of factors. 59 00:03:37,740 --> 00:03:39,400 One of them is he was very ambitious. 60 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:41,980 He wanted to make a mark in social psychology, 61 00:03:41,980 --> 00:03:44,580 and as he wrote to one friend, 62 00:03:44,580 --> 00:03:48,690 he wanted to come up with the boldest experiment that he could think of. 63 00:03:48,690 --> 00:03:51,520 EXPERIMENTER: Would you roll up your right sleeve, please? 64 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,320 This electrode is connected to the shock generator in the next room. 65 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:02,270 This electrode paste is to provide a good contact to avoid any blister or burn. 66 00:04:02,270 --> 00:04:05,665 Do you have any questions now before we go into the next room? 67 00:04:05,665 --> 00:04:09,185 LEARNER: About two years ago, I was in the Veterans Hospital in West Haven. 68 00:04:09,185 --> 00:04:11,890 While there, they detected a heart condition. 69 00:04:11,890 --> 00:04:15,485 Nothing serious, but as long as I'm having these shocks, 70 00:04:15,485 --> 00:04:17,980 how strong are they? How dangerous are they? 71 00:04:17,980 --> 00:04:19,830 EXPERIMENTER: Well, no, although they may be painful, 72 00:04:19,830 --> 00:04:23,025 they're not dangerous. Anything else? 73 00:04:23,025 --> 00:04:24,990 LEARNER: No, that's all. 74 00:04:24,990 --> 00:04:27,290 EXPERIMENTER: Teacher, would you take the test and be seated in 75 00:04:27,290 --> 00:04:29,310 front of the shock generator, please, in the next room? 76 00:04:29,310 --> 00:04:31,760 NARRATOR: But the experiment was rigged. 77 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,130 PRESENTER: The victim was an accomplice of the experiment. 78 00:04:35,130 --> 00:04:37,090 The victim, according to plan, 79 00:04:37,090 --> 00:04:39,030 provided many wrong answers. 80 00:04:39,030 --> 00:04:41,770 His verbal responses were standardized on tape, 81 00:04:41,770 --> 00:04:46,055 and each protest was coordinated to a particular voltage level on the shock generator. 82 00:04:46,055 --> 00:04:48,250 STANLEY MILGRAM: Now, as teacher, you are seated in front of 83 00:04:48,250 --> 00:04:52,165 this impressive-looking instrument—the shock generator. 84 00:04:52,165 --> 00:04:58,050 Its essential feature is a line of switches that goes from 15 volts to 450 volts 85 00:04:58,050 --> 00:05:04,100 and a set of verbal designations that goes from slight shock to moderate shock, strong shock, 86 00:05:04,100 --> 00:05:06,700 very strong shock, intense shock, 87 00:05:06,700 --> 00:05:09,430 extreme intensity shock and finally, 88 00:05:09,430 --> 00:05:12,560 XXX danger severe shock. 89 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,070 Your job, the experimenter explains to you, 90 00:05:15,070 --> 00:05:17,440 is the word pair test. 91 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:19,360 If he gets each answer correctly, 92 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:21,375 fine, you move on to the next pair. 93 00:05:21,375 --> 00:05:23,280 But if he makes a mistake, 94 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:25,740 you were instructed to give an electric shock, 95 00:05:25,740 --> 00:05:28,415 starting with 15 volts. 96 00:05:28,415 --> 00:05:33,245 You increase the shock one step on each error. 97 00:05:33,245 --> 00:05:37,230 TEACHER: Incorrect. You'll now get a shock of 105. 98 00:05:38,090 --> 00:05:44,535 Hard hit. Just how far can you go on this thing? 99 00:05:44,535 --> 00:05:46,305 EXPERIMENTER: As far as it's necessary. 100 00:05:46,305 --> 00:05:48,705 TEACHER: What do you mean "as far as is necessary"? 101 00:05:48,705 --> 00:05:51,340 DR. THOMAS BLASS: Milgram was very much aware that 102 00:05:51,340 --> 00:05:55,640 obedience is a necessary ingredient for society to function. 103 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:58,375 But he focused on the darker side of obedience. 104 00:05:58,375 --> 00:06:04,070 TEACHER: Incorrect, 150 volts. Sad faced. 105 00:06:04,070 --> 00:06:06,155 LEARNER: That's all. Get me out of here. 106 00:06:06,155 --> 00:06:07,790 I told you I have heart trouble, 107 00:06:07,790 --> 00:06:09,390 my heart's starting to bother me now. 108 00:06:09,390 --> 00:06:11,710 EXPERIMENTER: It's absolutely essential that you continue. 109 00:06:11,710 --> 00:06:13,425 You have no other choice, teacher. 110 00:06:13,425 --> 00:06:15,525 TEACHER: Oh, I have a lot of choices. 111 00:06:15,525 --> 00:06:19,530 My number one choice is that I wouldn't go on if I thought he was being harmed. 112 00:06:19,530 --> 00:06:23,850 STANLEY MILGRAM: Now, this man makes disobedience seem a very rational and simple deed. 113 00:06:23,850 --> 00:06:28,555 Now other subjects respond quite differently to the experimenter's authority. 114 00:06:28,555 --> 00:06:33,290 TEACHER: Wrong. It's hair. 75 volts. [LAUGHTER] 115 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,635 EXPERIMENTER: Please continue. 116 00:06:37,635 --> 00:06:40,670 DR THOMAS BLASS: Some psychologists were troubled by the ethics of it. 117 00:06:40,670 --> 00:06:46,330 Many, if not most subjects found it a highly stressful, conflicted experience. 118 00:06:46,330 --> 00:06:50,705 People are stammering, stuttering, laughing hysterically, inappropriately. 119 00:06:50,705 --> 00:06:52,950 TEACHER: One hundred and fifty volts. 120 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,360 LEARNER: [SHOUT OF PAIN] Experimenter, that's all. 121 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:58,250 Get me out of here. 122 00:06:58,250 --> 00:07:00,980 I told you I have heart trouble, my heart's starting to bother me now. 123 00:07:00,980 --> 00:07:03,580 Get me out of here, please. Let me out of here. 124 00:07:03,580 --> 00:07:04,860 You have no right to keep me here. 125 00:07:04,860 --> 00:07:07,600 Let me out. Let me out of here. Let me out. Let me out of here. EXPERIMENTER: Continue, please. Go on. [SHOUTING] 126 00:07:10,700 --> 00:07:14,540 DR. THOMAS BLASS: Clearly when we say people went to the top of the shock board, 127 00:07:14,540 --> 00:07:17,865 it wasn't like they were going blindly, sadistically. 128 00:07:17,865 --> 00:07:19,960 People went, stop and go, stop and go. 129 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:21,720 They were in a state of conflict, 130 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:23,815 which created a tremendous amount of stress. 131 00:07:23,815 --> 00:07:25,255 That was the main critique. 132 00:07:25,255 --> 00:07:27,560 TEACHER: This will be at 330. [SCREAM] [NOISE] 133 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:36,160 HERBERT WINER: As his voice began to show increasing frustration, 134 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:44,000 so did I. I was really in a state of real conflict and agitation. 135 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,100 One of Stanley Milgram's basic contributions 136 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:51,020 was that you don't ask people what they would do, 137 00:07:51,020 --> 00:07:53,920 given this hypothetical situation, 138 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,590 you put them in the situation. 139 00:07:56,590 --> 00:08:01,800 TEACHER: Wrong, that's 180 volts. 140 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:03,495 EXPERIMENTER: Please continue teacher. 141 00:08:03,495 --> 00:08:05,590 TEACHER: A hundred and eighty volts. 142 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:09,660 LEARNER: Oh, I can't stand the pain. Get me out of here. 143 00:08:09,660 --> 00:08:11,345 TEACHER: I can't stand it. I'm not going to kill that man. 144 00:08:11,345 --> 00:08:13,060 DR. THOMAS BLASS: According to Milgram, 145 00:08:13,060 --> 00:08:17,840 one of the things that's a prerequisite for carrying out acts that are evil 146 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:22,960 is to shed responsibility from your shoulders and hand it over to the person in charge. 147 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,340 TEACHER: Who's going to take responsibility if anything happens to that gentleman? 148 00:08:26,340 --> 00:08:29,930 EXPERIMENTER: I'm responsible for anything that happens here. Continue, please. 149 00:08:29,930 --> 00:08:31,720 TEACHER: Alright next one, slow. 150 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,640 DR THOMAS BLASS: They didn't hold any gun to anybody's head. 151 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,780 Just the fact that he conveyed a sense of authority. 152 00:08:37,780 --> 00:08:43,290 Roughly 60, 65% of the people went all the way to the top of the shock board. 153 00:08:43,290 --> 00:08:46,560 TEACHER: Four hundred and fifty volts. That's it. 154 00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:48,870 EXPERIMENTER: Now, continue using the last switch on the board, 155 00:08:48,870 --> 00:08:51,750 please, the 450 switch for each wrong answer. Continue, please. 156 00:08:51,750 --> 00:08:52,980 TEACHER: I'm not getting no answer. 157 00:08:52,980 --> 00:08:54,845 Don't the man's health mean anything? 158 00:08:54,845 --> 00:08:56,390 EXPERIMENTER: Whether the learner likes it or not... 159 00:08:56,390 --> 00:08:58,330 TEACHER: He might be dead in there. 160 00:08:58,330 --> 00:08:59,650 HERBERT WINER: Milgram made the point, 161 00:08:59,650 --> 00:09:01,250 I think, very effectively, 162 00:09:01,250 --> 00:09:05,980 that the Nazis were all a bunch of psychopaths at Delson and 163 00:09:05,980 --> 00:09:10,770 Dachau, a death camp from the middle class in New Haven. 164 00:09:10,770 --> 00:09:12,540 ANOTHER EXPERIMENTER: Well, who was actually pushing the switch? 165 00:09:12,540 --> 00:09:15,200 TEACHER: I was. But he kept insisting. 166 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,480 I told him no, but he said you got to keep going. 167 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,775 DR. THOMAS BLASS: What kind of obedience would Milgram get today if he were to do the experiment today? 168 00:09:21,775 --> 00:09:23,180 FEMALE STUDENT: Probably about the same. 169 00:09:23,180 --> 00:09:24,810 DR. THOMAS BLASS: Probably about the same. Why? 170 00:09:24,810 --> 00:09:27,580 FEMALE STUDENT 1: I don't know. I think people are just inherently obedient. 171 00:09:27,580 --> 00:09:30,300 FEMALE STUDENT 2: It just really shows how far human beings will 172 00:09:30,300 --> 00:09:33,900 go to appease what they perceive to be a authority figure. 173 00:09:33,900 --> 00:09:37,080 DR. THOMAS BLASS: Milgram has identified one of the constants, 174 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:38,980 one of the universals of social behavior. 175 00:09:38,980 --> 00:09:42,700 The readiness to obey authority cuts across time. It's a constant. 176 00:09:42,700 --> 00:09:46,420 The other outstanding and distinctive thing about the obedience experiment is how 177 00:09:46,420 --> 00:09:50,440 much it has and keeps on permeating contemporary culture and thought. 178 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,130 It's still with us in very important way.