Summary Of The Perils Of Obedience And Philip Zimbardo

Stanley Milgram begins his article, “The Perils of Obedience,” with an exhaustive description of his experiment and outcome he expects. He follows this with an exception to his preliminary observations by providing conversation between the subject and the experimenter. Milgram also explains peculiar reactions to the experiment, including, “His [Braverman’s] very refined and authoritative manner of speaking is increasingly broken up by wheezing laughter.” Next, Milgram outlines variations to his experiment performed and closes with a reference to Nazi treatment of Jews. With similar format, Phillip Zimbardo opens his article, “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” with an overview of his experiment, including construction of the mock prison. He continues with observations of the first day of testing by quoting certain guard’s conversations with each other and prisoners. Proceeding, Zimbardo points out a riot initiated by the prisoners that was quickly snuffed out by the guards. He also emphasizes the point, “We were forced to release prisoner 8612 because of extreme depression…” Following the quote Zimbardo describes diary entries by one guard which explain a dramatic shift in mood in the guards. Zimbardo finishes his article with reasoning behind early termination of the experiment and expressed his regret of running the experiment. However, Zimbardo and Milgram were ethical in their experimental procedure and proves blind obedience was a factor in each subject.

Both Milgram and Zimbardo’s articles effectively highlight the ethics surrounding their respective experiments. Both authors began their articles with an unbiased

Each article was logical in its presentation of results and refrained from outside input. This effectiveness characterizes Milgram and Zimbardo as credible sources and well-rounded