Different Points of View

Other Points of View:
Analyses of the Milgram Studies

You might imagine that an experiment of such magnitude is likely to be subjected to much scrutiny and interpretation. That has certainly been the case. Not only were the ethics brought into question, the methodology and interpretation of the results have been also been the source of much discussion.

Society for the Study of Social Issues:

In 1995, The Journal of Social Issues, devoted an entire issue (Volume 51, Number 3, Fall) entitled "Perspectives on Obedience to Authority: The Legacy of the Milgram Experiments". This issue provides a conceptual overview from several perspectives.

Copy of the Abstracts

Author and Title

Abstract

Editors' Introduction

Miller, A, Collins, B. and Brief, D,

"Perspectives on Obedience to Authority: The Legacy of the Milgram Experiments" The experiments of Stanlely Milgram on obedience to authority have achieved a truly remarkable visibility, one that is rare in the social sciences. Although conducted over 30 years ago, Milgrams research is currently one of the most widely cited programs of studies in psychology. From their inception, the obedience studies have also been controversial. For many, they reveal some very illuminating about human nature. They have also been, however, the recipient of scathing ethical and methodological criticism.While the controversial features of Milgram's research have been well documented, the substantive core of Milgram's concern, namely obedience to malevolent authority, has not received correspondingly careful attention. The main objectives of the aarticsl in this issue are to track the progress of the impact of the obedience research in contemporatry research and throught, and to suggest directiions for the future. This introduction to the present issue provides an empirical and conceptual overview of Milgram's research and concludes by highlighting some major themes in the papers to follow.

The Obedience Paradigm: Origins, Historical Contexts,
and Contemporary Views on Its Meaning

Elms, Alan,

"Obedience in Retrospect" Milgram's original paradigm for studying obedience to authority is briefly describe, and the main results are summarizaed. Personal oberservations of the conduct of the initiail studies give added context for interpreting the results. Psychologists' reactions to the Milgram experiments are discussed in terms of (1) rejecting the research on ethical grounds, (2) explaining away the results as expressions of trivial phenomena, (3) subsuming obedience to destructive authority under other explanatory rubrics, and (4) endorsing or rejecting the results in terms of their perceived social relevance or irrelevance.

Miller, Arthur,

Constructions of the Obedience Experiments: A Focus Upon Domains of Relevance. The significance of the Milgram obedience experiments resides inevitably in the constructions of these studies--in the meaning and interpretations that this research holds for students and researchers. This paper reviewsx these constructions, with an emphaiss upon the domains of relevance.......

Lutsky, Neil

When Is "Obedience" Obedience? Conceptual and Historical Commentary This article reassesses the role of obedience to authority in the Milgram experiment and in the Holocaust. I argue that the term "obedience" can be used to both describe and explain the
behavior of subjects in Milgram's experiment, and that a failure to distinguish the two uses conceptually has led to an inflated sense of the extent to which Milgram's experiment
demonstrates underlying obedience to authority. The article also reviews empirical evidence and alternative analyses to show that when authority influences behavior in an experiment, it may do so for reasons other than the subjects' felt obligation to obey. Finally, I suggest that contemporary history presents a more complex and problematic view of the Holocaust than that
implied by social psychology's application of obedience to authority.

Hamiloton, V. Lee and Sanders, Joseph

Crimes of Obedience and Conformity in the Workplace: Surveys of Americans, Russians, and Japanese One outgrowth of Milgram's (1974) research is the study of public opinion about obedience norms. Extending Kelman and Hamilton's (1989) research on crimes of obedience in the
military, this article explores crimes of obedience and crimes of conformity in the workplace. Random samples of the residents of Washington, D.C.; Moscow, Russia; and Tokyo, Japan
were presented 4 vignettes about organizational wrongdoing. Manipulations included the influence situation (autonomy, conformity, or obedience) and the actor's position in the
hierarchy (subordinate versus mid-level authority). As expected, the actor's responsibility was greatest when he acted autonomously or was an authority. In addition, authorities were excused less than subordinates for having conformed or obeyed. Impacts of both influence situation and hierarchy were larger in Japan and Russia than in the United States.

Brief, Diana, and Collins, Barry

Using Person-Perception, Vignette Methodologies to Uncover the Symbolic Meanings of Teacher Behaviors in the Milgram Paradigm Behavior in the Milgram paradigm is rich with meanings for the identities of all three ineractants -- experimenter, teacher, and learner. The desire to construct desirable self-images and social
impressions is among the casual forces driving behavior in the Milgram paradigm. American college students valued disobedient teachers over obedient teachers, but they also valued polite disobedience over defiant disobedience. It is not only necessary to find the will to disobey the experimenter, it is also necessary to find a socially appropriate way to disobey. Russian participants looked to the hierarchical structure of the social situation (Experimenter, teacher, learner) and not the behavior of individual teachers when they assigned responsibility for the learner's shocks. The person-perception, vignette methodologies used in the present study can
tap the conclusions of the automatic inferences that create the symbolic meanings of behaviors in the Milgram paradigm. The range of mediating mechanisms necessary to explain the
shock-delivering lever presses in the Milgram paradigm includes some that fall outside the "obedience" metaphor in general and Milgram's "Agentic State" in particular.

Analyzing Obedient and Defiant Behavior

Madigliani, Andre, and Rochat, Francois,

The Role of Interaction Sequences and the Timing of Resistance in Shaping Obedience and Definance to Authority. In Stanley Milgram's pioneering experiments on authority, the actual processes through which subjects manage to remain obedient or become defiant are far from clear. Our conventional
paradigm for understanding interpersonal behavior had led us to study these processes by searching for a priori qualities of the situation, and/or of the actors, that operate more or less
simultaneously to produce obedience or defiance. Such a perspective largely overlooks the unfolding and evolving nature of both obedience and defiance. This paper develops a
contrasting, sequential model of the interaction that develops between subject and authority. A specific hypothesis is derived from this model: The sooner in the course of the experiment a
subject begins to show notable resistance, the more likely he will end up to be defiant. This hypothesis is tested and supported through a re-analysis of data collected by Milgram for his "Bridgeport" condition. The specific effects of early resistance are discussed in terms of two processes: (1) An interpersonal process that works to jam the authority's prods and break the momentum he imparts to the interaction; (2) A psychological process that works to erode the subject's rationalizations for continuing and spurs him to search for justifications for stopping.

Darley, John,

"Constuctive and Destructive Obedience: A Taxonomy of Principal-Agent Relationships" A phenomenological analysis of the plight of the Milgram subject is conducted. It is concluded that the subject who continues to give shocks should not be seen as deciding to inflict serious harm on another, but as torn between two incompatible perspects on the meaning of continuation, one of which is enforced by the readings of the meanings of the actions of the experimenter. Next, drawing on the laws governing the principal-agent relationships, a taxonomy of situations in which an authority directs the actions of a subordinate is suggested. Importantly, in different cells of the taxonomy, legal codes assign sharply different degrees of
responsibility to the agent and the principal for harms that result from their joint projects; in the Milgram situation the entire responsibility for harms done rests on the experimenter. Finally, an experiment that demonstrates "constructive obedience" is presented.

Meeus, Wim and Raaijmakers, Quinter

"Obedience in Modern Society: The Utrecht Studies" The Utrecht Studies on Obedience, a series of 19 experiments, demonstrated that obedience is extremely high when the violence to be exerted is a contemporary form of mediated violence, and remains high even when the subjects receive detailed information about the task in advance.
Observation of the subjects and analysis of the data from questionnaires and the debriefing show that the subject's attitude to the experimenter's commands is critical to very critical, and that they found it unpleasant and stressful to carry out the task. This stress was not, however, sufficient
to make subjects disobedient. They attempted to hide their stress from the victim and to act as if nothing was wrong, displaying the behavior of an official. The explanation for the high level of obedience should not be sought in the inability of the subjects to resist the scientific authority (see the results of the condition Legal liability), but in their attitude to social institutions and their distant relationship with fellow citizens. Active role-playing offers an attractive opportunity for
ethically acceptable obedience research.

Brief, Arthur, Buttram, Robert, Elliott, Jodi, Reizenstein, Robin, and McCline, Richard Largely drawing on the findings and reasoning of Milgram (1974), a laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the impact of authoritative directives and actor observability on the use of race as a selection criterion in hiring. A significant main effect for instructions was found, suggesting that, when told by a superior to do so, members of organizations may use race as a criterion in making hiring decisions. The precise form of this compliance effect varied, however, as a function of the type of dependent variable under consideration [attitudinal (i.e., ratings of Black job candidates) vs. behavioral (i.e., number of Black candidates chosen for the final job interviews)]. No effects for actor observability were detected. These results are discussed in
terms of their theoretical, methodological, and practical implications in regards to organizational wrongdoing, particularly institutional racism.

Modigliani, Andre and
Rochat,Francois

"The Ordinary Quality of Resistance: From Milgram's Laboratory to the Village of Le Chambon" According to Hannah Arendt's banality of evil thesis, endorsed by Milgram, it is possible for ordinary people to perform horrendous deeds when these are rendered routine and morally
neutral through a framework of legitimate authority. But such a view of human capacities does nothing to explain the actions of equally ordinary people who defied authorities to rescue
potential victims during the Holocaust. This article formulates a contrasting but non-contradictory conception-- The ordinariness of goodness-- and illustrates it by examining closely how the people of the French village of Le Chambon managed, during World War 11, to resist efforts of Vichy authorities to induce them to participate in the persecution of minority peoples, thereby enabling them to save thousands of refugees. Notable features of their resistance are then compared to the ordinary behavior of some of Milgram's disobedient subjects.

Other References

Orne, M. and Holland, C. (1968) On the ecological validity of laboratory deceptions. International Journal of Psychiatry. 6, 282-293.

--More to be Included--

Ethics:

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Assumptions:

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switch on right

Author and Title		Abstract
Editors' Introduction
Miller, A, Collins, B. and Brief, D, "Perspectives on Obedience to Authority: The Legacy of the Milgram Experiments"		The experiments of Stanlely Milgram on obedience to authority have achieved a truly remarkable visibility, one that is rare in the social sciences. Although conducted over 30 years ago, Milgrams research is currently one of the most widely cited programs of studies in psychology. From their inception, the obedience studies have also been controversial. For many, they reveal some very illuminating about human nature. They have also been, however, the recipient of scathing ethical and methodological criticism.While the controversial features of Milgram's research have been well documented, the substantive core of Milgram's concern, namely obedience to malevolent authority, has not received correspondingly careful attention. The main objectives of the aarticsl in this issue are to track the progress of the impact of the obedience research in contemporatry research and throught, and to suggest directiions for the future. This introduction to the present issue provides an empirical and conceptual overview of Milgram's research and concludes by highlighting some major themes in the papers to follow.
The Obedience Paradigm: Origins, Historical Contexts, and Contemporary Views on Its Meaning
Elms, Alan, "Obedience in Retrospect"		Milgram's original paradigm for studying obedience to authority is briefly describe, and the main results are summarizaed. Personal oberservations of the conduct of the initiail studies give added context for interpreting the results. Psychologists' reactions to the Milgram experiments are discussed in terms of (1) rejecting the research on ethical grounds, (2) explaining away the results as expressions of trivial phenomena, (3) subsuming obedience to destructive authority under other explanatory rubrics, and (4) endorsing or rejecting the results in terms of their perceived social relevance or irrelevance.
Miller, Arthur, Constructions of the Obedience Experiments: A Focus Upon Domains of Relevance.		The significance of the Milgram obedience experiments resides inevitably in the constructions of these studies--in the meaning and interpretations that this research holds for students and researchers. This paper reviewsx these constructions, with an emphaiss upon the domains of relevance.......
Lutsky, Neil When Is "Obedience" Obedience? Conceptual and Historical Commentary		This article reassesses the role of obedience to authority in the Milgram experiment and in the Holocaust. I argue that the term "obedience" can be used to both describe and explain the behavior of subjects in Milgram's experiment, and that a failure to distinguish the two uses conceptually has led to an inflated sense of the extent to which Milgram's experiment demonstrates underlying obedience to authority. The article also reviews empirical evidence and alternative analyses to show that when authority influences behavior in an experiment, it may do so for reasons other than the subjects' felt obligation to obey. Finally, I suggest that contemporary history presents a more complex and problematic view of the Holocaust than that implied by social psychology's application of obedience to authority.
Hamiloton, V. Lee and Sanders, Joseph Crimes of Obedience and Conformity in the Workplace: Surveys of Americans, Russians, and Japanese		One outgrowth of Milgram's (1974) research is the study of public opinion about obedience norms. Extending Kelman and Hamilton's (1989) research on crimes of obedience in the military, this article explores crimes of obedience and crimes of conformity in the workplace. Random samples of the residents of Washington, D.C.; Moscow, Russia; and Tokyo, Japan were presented 4 vignettes about organizational wrongdoing. Manipulations included the influence situation (autonomy, conformity, or obedience) and the actor's position in the hierarchy (subordinate versus mid-level authority). As expected, the actor's responsibility was greatest when he acted autonomously or was an authority. In addition, authorities were excused less than subordinates for having conformed or obeyed. Impacts of both influence situation and hierarchy were larger in Japan and Russia than in the United States.
Brief, Diana, and Collins, Barry Using Person-Perception, Vignette Methodologies to Uncover the Symbolic Meanings of Teacher Behaviors in the Milgram Paradigm		Behavior in the Milgram paradigm is rich with meanings for the identities of all three ineractants -- experimenter, teacher, and learner. The desire to construct desirable self-images and social impressions is among the casual forces driving behavior in the Milgram paradigm. American college students valued disobedient teachers over obedient teachers, but they also valued polite disobedience over defiant disobedience. It is not only necessary to find the will to disobey the experimenter, it is also necessary to find a socially appropriate way to disobey. Russian participants looked to the hierarchical structure of the social situation (Experimenter, teacher, learner) and not the behavior of individual teachers when they assigned responsibility for the learner's shocks. The person-perception, vignette methodologies used in the present study can tap the conclusions of the automatic inferences that create the symbolic meanings of behaviors in the Milgram paradigm. The range of mediating mechanisms necessary to explain the shock-delivering lever presses in the Milgram paradigm includes some that fall outside the "obedience" metaphor in general and Milgram's "Agentic State" in particular.
Analyzing Obedient and Defiant Behavior
Madigliani, Andre, and Rochat, Francois, The Role of Interaction Sequences and the Timing of Resistance in Shaping Obedience and Definance to Authority.		In Stanley Milgram's pioneering experiments on authority, the actual processes through which subjects manage to remain obedient or become defiant are far from clear. Our conventional paradigm for understanding interpersonal behavior had led us to study these processes by searching for a priori qualities of the situation, and/or of the actors, that operate more or less simultaneously to produce obedience or defiance. Such a perspective largely overlooks the unfolding and evolving nature of both obedience and defiance. This paper develops a contrasting, sequential model of the interaction that develops between subject and authority. A specific hypothesis is derived from this model: The sooner in the course of the experiment a subject begins to show notable resistance, the more likely he will end up to be defiant. This hypothesis is tested and supported through a re-analysis of data collected by Milgram for his "Bridgeport" condition. The specific effects of early resistance are discussed in terms of two processes: (1) An interpersonal process that works to jam the authority's prods and break the momentum he imparts to the interaction; (2) A psychological process that works to erode the subject's rationalizations for continuing and spurs him to search for justifications for stopping.
Darley, John, "Constuctive and Destructive Obedience: A Taxonomy of Principal-Agent Relationships"		A phenomenological analysis of the plight of the Milgram subject is conducted. It is concluded that the subject who continues to give shocks should not be seen as deciding to inflict serious harm on another, but as torn between two incompatible perspects on the meaning of continuation, one of which is enforced by the readings of the meanings of the actions of the experimenter. Next, drawing on the laws governing the principal-agent relationships, a taxonomy of situations in which an authority directs the actions of a subordinate is suggested. Importantly, in different cells of the taxonomy, legal codes assign sharply different degrees of responsibility to the agent and the principal for harms that result from their joint projects; in the Milgram situation the entire responsibility for harms done rests on the experimenter. Finally, an experiment that demonstrates "constructive obedience" is presented.
Meeus, Wim and Raaijmakers, Quinter "Obedience in Modern Society: The Utrecht Studies"		The Utrecht Studies on Obedience, a series of 19 experiments, demonstrated that obedience is extremely high when the violence to be exerted is a contemporary form of mediated violence, and remains high even when the subjects receive detailed information about the task in advance. Observation of the subjects and analysis of the data from questionnaires and the debriefing show that the subject's attitude to the experimenter's commands is critical to very critical, and that they found it unpleasant and stressful to carry out the task. This stress was not, however, sufficient to make subjects disobedient. They attempted to hide their stress from the victim and to act as if nothing was wrong, displaying the behavior of an official. The explanation for the high level of obedience should not be sought in the inability of the subjects to resist the scientific authority (see the results of the condition Legal liability), but in their attitude to social institutions and their distant relationship with fellow citizens. Active role-playing offers an attractive opportunity for ethically acceptable obedience research.
Brief, Arthur, Buttram, Robert, Elliott, Jodi, Reizenstein, Robin, and McCline, Richard		Largely drawing on the findings and reasoning of Milgram (1974), a laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the impact of authoritative directives and actor observability on the use of race as a selection criterion in hiring. A significant main effect for instructions was found, suggesting that, when told by a superior to do so, members of organizations may use race as a criterion in making hiring decisions. The precise form of this compliance effect varied, however, as a function of the type of dependent variable under consideration [attitudinal (i.e., ratings of Black job candidates) vs. behavioral (i.e., number of Black candidates chosen for the final job interviews)]. No effects for actor observability were detected. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical, methodological, and practical implications in regards to organizational wrongdoing, particularly institutional racism.
Modigliani, Andre and Rochat,Francois "The Ordinary Quality of Resistance: From Milgram's Laboratory to the Village of Le Chambon"		According to Hannah Arendt's banality of evil thesis, endorsed by Milgram, it is possible for ordinary people to perform horrendous deeds when these are rendered routine and morally neutral through a framework of legitimate authority. But such a view of human capacities does nothing to explain the actions of equally ordinary people who defied authorities to rescue potential victims during the Holocaust. This article formulates a contrasting but non-contradictory conception-- The ordinariness of goodness-- and illustrates it by examining closely how the people of the French village of Le Chambon managed, during World War 11, to resist efforts of Vichy authorities to induce them to participate in the persecution of minority peoples, thereby enabling them to save thousands of refugees. Notable features of their resistance are then compared to the ordinary behavior of some of Milgram's disobedient subjects.


Ethics: click switch on left	Assumptions: click switch on right