Question

To what extent were you surprised to learn the outcomes of Stanley Milgram’s obedience studies? Why were you surprised or not surprised?

Answer 1

I was extremely shocked when I learned about the outcomes of Milgram’s obedience studies. The experiment found, unexpectedly, that a very high proportion of men would fully obey the instructions, albeit reluctantly. This shows that individual decision making skills are critically impaired in the presence of perceived authority figures. Furthermore, there is diffusion of personal responsibility in such situations as well because the participants put the blame of their outcome of their actions on the authority figure.