Notes on Stanley Milgram's Obedience Experiment

Introduction to Milgram's Experiment

• The Holocaust and Human Obedience

  • Stanley Milgram's interest in understanding how ordinary people participated in Nazi atrocities.

  • Milgram initially believed the Holocaust was linked to German cultural traits which wouldn't happen in the U.S.

  • Inspired by the need for a comparative study, Milgram devised an experiment in New Haven, Connecticut instead of Germany.

Milgram's Original Hypothesis

• Milgram's goal was to scientifically explore the "Germans-are-different" thesis:

  • Proposed by historians like William Lawrence Shirer.

  • Theory: Germans possess a character flaw that predisposes them to blind obedience to authority, regardless of the immorality of commands.

• Milgram’s personal motivation linked to his Jewish background; aimed for insight that could improve humanity's moral compass.

• Assumed that Germans would display more obedience than Americans in his studies.