Stanley Milgram Experiment Research Paper

770 Words4 Pages

Name: Abdullah Ali Mohammed
Date: 28/12/2017

Stanley Milgram Experiment
The Stanley Milgram experiment is the study of the way people respond to obedience. It’s a social psychological experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram. It’s one of the most important experiments ever administered. This research raised a lot of ethical issues as a lot of people argued if it is ethically right or wrong. In this essay, I will talk about this experiment and its results. I will also mention the ethical view of both Utilitarian and Kantian moral theories. Finally, I will state my opinion regarding the ethicality of this experiment.

The Stanley Milgram experiment was conducted for the purpose of testing the willingness of participants, people from different …show more content…

The experiment raised a lot of ethical issues. The participants experienced administering 400 V electric shock to a person and hearing him scream in pain and eventually struggle to death which may affect one’s life. Also, Milgram lied to the participants, letting them believe that they were shocking a real person. Even after knowing the truth, the participants will still feel guilty that they tried to kill an innocent human just because he/she failed to learn a list of syllables. The participants were not given the right to leave the experiment any time they wanted, instead, the instructor forced them to continue the experiment. Milgram deceived the participants about the purpose of the experiment; they were told that the experiment is about the study of memory which is considered deceiving.
In conclusion, the Stanley Milgram Experiment may have a good purpose but the methods were used in a wrong way. It has both advantages and disadvantages. Even though most of the participants were glad in the end, they still got mentally affected. This experiment will change the way Psychologist’s work. It will be as guidelines regarding the treatment of research participants. Present and future psychological experiments should not use deception to attract the people to participate in it and they should not bring harm to the