reading questions for

Stanley Milgram's Obedience to Authority

Chapters 1, 2, & 3

• Describe the experimental paradigm used in the obedience studies.
• What argument does Milgram make that Eichmann was an "uninspired bureaucrat"?
• What does Milgram cite as the "most fundamental lesson" of his study?
• Do the subjects know what "ought to be done" in the Milgram study?
• What keeps the subject obeying the experimenter?
• What shift in moral concern occurs for subjects in the study?
• Why would subjects devalue the victim?
• Why were Yale students not used in the studies?
• Why would it be important to balance the occupations and ages of subjects?
• Why is the "cover story" about learning important in the study. Could Milgram have gotten by without deceiving his subjects?
• Why would it be important to have the teacher announce the shock level each time?
• Why was it important to have the subject shouting his protests?

Chapters 4, 5, & 6

• What 6 things in addition to "closeness" was this manipulation changing? Can you think of others?
• How does tension point toward the strength of "binding forces," forces pushing the subject to disobey, and to the realism of the situation?
• Why must "a line be drawn between listening carefully to what the subject says and mistaking it for the whole story"?
• What differences occur in who the subjects think is responsible for the victim's suffering?
• Why did the move to the basement and the addition of the "heart condition" make little difference in obedience?
• Why would closeness of the authority make a difference in obedience?
• What differences did women show in their stint as subjects?
• What finding shows that "the social contract doctrine is a feeble determinant of behavior"?
• What did moving the experiment to Bridgeport do to the results of the study?
• Why is it important to allow subjects to shock the victim at any level they want?

Chapters 7, 8, & 9

• Why was it important for Mrs. Dontz to "know what rights I have"?
• Explain Mrs. Rosenblum's insistence in the returned questionnaire that she had not really believed that the victim was being shocked.
• When an ordinary man gives the orders to shock, what happens to obedience?
• What could we manipulate to get people to listen to the "ordinary man"?
• Why are people heroic in the "bystander" study, but passive in the "peer administers shocks" study (experiment 18 in chapter 9)?
• Why do subjects stop shortly after the conflicting orders from experimenters?
• What are the differences between conformity and obedience?
• What kinds of information does the subject get when peers rebel?
• What other factors could contribute to subjects increased disobedience?
• Why do subjects go all the way when another person is doing the shock?

Chapter 10

• What is the survival value of a hierarchy?
• Why is "instinct" not a good explanation for obedience?
• Why does the homeostatic model need an inhibitor?
• How is the inhibitor similar to a superEgo?
• When is an inhibitory model essential in a social organization?
• Why does variability pose a problem for function in a group? How does hierarchy overcome it?
• What is the "agentic shift"? How is it different from autonomy?
• How do the cybernetic models fit in the move between autonomy and agentic states?

Chapter 11

• What are the antecedent conditions for obedience? How can they increase or decrease obedience?
• Why is ideology important in establishing conditions for obedience?
• What are the properties of the agentic state?
• Explain tuning, redefining of meaning, loss of responsibility, and self image as they relate to obedience.
• Does morality disappear in the agentic state?
• What are the binding factors that keep a person in the agentic state?

Chapter 12

• What is strain?
• What are some of the sources of strain?
• Why are buffers important in reducing strain?
• What ways do people reduce strain?
• How are the ways of reducing strain ordered?

Chapter 14

• Are the people studied in the experiment any different from "regular folks"? Why might we be tempted to think so?
• Did subjects actually believe they were shocking the victim? Cite evidence supporting belief?
• Can we generalize from this study to the "real world"?
• Is the comparison of combustion to obedience reasonable?

Epilogue & Appendices

• Identify Antecedent conditions, binding factors, the agentic state, consequences, strain, and strain resolution mechanisms in the transcript of the My Lai interview and Milgram's description of military life.
• What do you think of the ethical issues surrounding Milgram's studies?
• What does Milgram identify as "the central moral justification" for allowing his experimental procedure?
• What differences in responsibility assignment occurred between obedient and disobedient subjects? How, in terms of Milgram's model, can we explain these differences?

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