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In Milgram's experimental procedure, the men acting as "teachers" were convinced that the shocks were painful and that the higher voltages might be dangerous to the person acting as the learner. In actuality, however, the "learner" never really received any shocks at all. The "teachers" were the only true participants in the study. It was always arranged that, unknown to the real volunteer, the "learner" would be a paid confederate or assistant of Milgram's. The actor portraying the "learner" was a genial-looking man in his 50s, introduced to the real volunteers as "Mr. Wallace." The real subjects in the experiment believed that Mr. Wallace was strapped into his chair in the adjoining room, unable to leave or avoid the shocks. The actor playing Mr. Wallace always followed a prepared script, in which he continued to make errors on the learning task and then acted as if he was enduring painful shocks as the teachers flipped switches on the fake shock generator. At the 75-volt level, the script called for Mr. Wallace to begin crying out in pain. If the shock reached the 150-volt level, he would begin to pound the wall, shouting that he could not stand the pain and that he had a dangerous heart condition. At 210 volts, he would shout out that he had had enough and did not want to be in the study any more. Agonized screams were heard from the other room if the teacher continued to the 270-volt level. After a final, intense protest at 330 volts, the script called for the learner to refuse to answer any more questions. If the teacher continued by delivering shocks stronger than 330 volts, they were to hear only an ominous silence from the learner's room. Another actor, who played the role of the experimenter, supervised the procedure. The experimenter adopted a severe demeanor and dressed in a white lab coat. The experimenter, also following a script, responded to any reluctance on the part of the teachers by prompting them with simple statements such as "The experiment requires that you continue"and "You have no other choice, you must go on." As "Mr. Wallace" continued to make mistakes, the person functioning as the teacher would eventually be faced with the question: How far do I dare go? At what point should I refuse to obey the instructions of the experimenter?  |
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