In Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments, approximately what percentage of participants administered the maximum 450-volt shock when instructed by the experimenter?

Question

Accepted Answer

65 percent. In Milgram's original 1963 obedience study, approximately 65 percent of participants continued to administer electric shocks up to the maximum 450-volt level when instructed to do so by an authority figure in a lab coat, despite hearing the "learner" (actually a confederate) screaming in pain and eventually falling silent. This result shocked the psychology community and the general public, as most experts had predicted that fewer than 5 percent would go to the maximum level.

Milgram conducted numerous variations of the experiment to identify factors that influenced obedience levels. Obedience decreased when the experimenter was not physically present (giving instructions by phone), when the participant was in the same room as the learner, when the experiment was conducted in a less prestigious setting, and when other "participants" (confederates) refused to continue. Obedience increased when the authority figure was physically close and when responsibility was diffused among multiple people.

These experiments raised profound questions about human nature and the capacity of ordinary people to commit harmful acts under the direction of authority. Milgram connected his findings to real-world atrocities like the Holocaust, arguing that obedience to authority is a deeply ingrained social behavior. The experiments also sparked intense ethical debate about the psychological distress inflicted on participants, contributing to the development of modern research ethics standards including informed consent and institutional review board oversight.

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