5 ms·

Milgram experiment (1963) [video]

23 points by sfusato 4y ago

dang 4y ago
Related. Others? Obedience to Authority: The Experiments by Stanley Milgram - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25900430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25900430 - Jan 2021 (53 comments) Milgram Experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23386531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23386531 - June 2020 (1 comment) Analysis suggests Milgram participants realised experiments not really dangerous - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16282267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16282267 - Feb 2018 (1 comment) Why do we keep repeating the Milgram experiments? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420292 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420292 - Oct 2014 (58 comments) Half of Milgram’s subjects told him to take a hike - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1881551 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1881551 - Nov 2010 (44 comments) Milgram experiment redone: crowd "tortures" man on fake TV show - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1202618 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1202618 - March 2010 (41 comments) The Milgram Experiment Today? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=224131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=224131 - June 2008 (2 comments) Milgram experiment participant who refused to administer shocks (2004) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=183466 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=183466 - May 2008 (9 comments) Stanley Milgram: The Perils of Obedience (1973) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37977 - July 2007 (1 comment) Revisit the Milgram Experiment by shooting a live Iraqi over the internet - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23217 - May 2007 (2 comments)
- yamrzou 4y ago
  Obedience, Power, and Leadership - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33228544 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33228544 Individual Differences in Obedience and Prejudice - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33602991 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33602991
  - dang 4y ago
    Good finds! (I won't add them to the above list because they don't have comments. Users get cranky when they click on HN links and find no comments there.)
chedca21 4y ago
wlkr 4y ago
Derren Brown did a re-enactment of this experiment for television in the UK in 2006 as part of The Heist, one of his many TV specials. He had results similar to the original Milgram experiment. You can watch clips of it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxq4QtK3j0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxq4QtK3j0Y Edit: It seems that the full show is also on YouTube from Derren's official channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtMMsFoHuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtMMsFoHuY
- TrinaryWorksToo 4y ago
  Derren Brown did a reenactment, not a recreation, as he is a Magician not a scientist.
  - wlkr 4y ago
    You're right, I've changed the terminology to clarify this for people unfamiliar with Derren Brown.
    - TrinaryWorksToo 4y ago
      Derren has unfortunately been a big source of misinformation. I once saw a video of his at a neuroscience conference.
    - teddyh 4y ago
      Being a re-enactment and not a recreation, it also does not have “results”.
      - wlkr 4y ago
        If you've watched it, re-enactment probably isn't quite the right term either. AFAIK the 'participants' weren't aware it was an 'experiment'. It has results, they are just extremely limited and not rigorous.
neaden 4y ago
A reminder that Milligram faked and selectively edited his data: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/rethinking-one-of-psychologys-most-infamous-experiments/384913/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/rethinkin... along with the equally famous and equally fake Stanford Prison experiment this was an "experiment" that had predefined results that has stuck around because it's what many of us want to believe.
- pifm_guy 4y ago
  Many of the criticisms of milgrams work are on ethical grounds. Just because something is unethical does not make the results incorrect.
- chedca21 4y ago
- mola 4y ago
  There's been plenty of replications and variations done all over the world with similar results. The Atlantic magazine and other publications circa 2015 ran with this clickbaity narrative because it's , well, a good clickbait. But even though milgrams own expirements have been criticized, those replications do len credibility to the effect. See Wikipedia for details...
  - Enginerrrd 4y ago
    Yeah as I see it, the attacks on Milgram were part of a larger fad that went around of finding any excuse to attack unethical science of the past as unscientific and useless or unhelpful. I think previously, the narrative was that such experiments were at least helpful or informative, and that made some people uncomfortable. I think also the particular conclusions of the Milgram and Stanford experiments also deeply upset university liberals because they humanized oppressors and provided some source of empathy for them. There are undoubtedly issues with all such historical science, but I think fighting that small window of empathy is misguided personally, because it forgets one of the most important lessons of history: There really are lots of "normal" people capable of great atrocities under the right conditions. I think it's important and takes more work to pay attention to those conditions, rather than to simply label the perpetrators as evil or inhuman and move on.
blurbleblurble 4y ago
Just a reminder, if you haven't seen it yet be sure to check out the documentary "We Live in Public"!
dariosalvi78 4y ago
"The experimenter" is an excellent movie about the life and work of Stanley Milgram: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3726704/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3726704/
aaron695 4y ago
[dead]

23 points by sfusato 4y ago

dang 4y ago

Related. Others? Obedience to Authority: The Experiments by Stanley Milgram - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25900430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25900430 - Jan 2021 (53 comments) Milgram Experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23386531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23386531 - June 2020 (1 comment) Analysis suggests Milgram participants realised experiments not really dangerous - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16282267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16282267 - Feb 2018 (1 comment) Why do we keep repeating the Milgram experiments? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420292 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8420292 - Oct 2014 (58 comments) Half of Milgram’s subjects told him to take a hike - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1881551 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1881551 - Nov 2010 (44 comments) Milgram experiment redone: crowd "tortures" man on fake TV show - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1202618 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1202618 - March 2010 (41 comments) The Milgram Experiment Today? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=224131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=224131 - June 2008 (2 comments) Milgram experiment participant who refused to administer shocks (2004) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=183466 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=183466 - May 2008 (9 comments) Stanley Milgram: The Perils of Obedience (1973) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37977 - July 2007 (1 comment) Revisit the Milgram Experiment by shooting a live Iraqi over the internet - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23217 - May 2007 (2 comments)

yamrzou 4y ago
Obedience, Power, and Leadership - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33228544 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33228544 Individual Differences in Obedience and Prejudice - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33602991 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33602991
- dang 4y ago
  Good finds! (I won't add them to the above list because they don't have comments. Users get cranky when they click on HN links and find no comments there.)

chedca21 4y ago

wlkr 4y ago

Derren Brown did a re-enactment of this experiment for television in the UK in 2006 as part of The Heist, one of his many TV specials. He had results similar to the original Milgram experiment. You can watch clips of it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxq4QtK3j0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxq4QtK3j0Y Edit: It seems that the full show is also on YouTube from Derren's official channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtMMsFoHuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtMMsFoHuY

TrinaryWorksToo 4y ago
Derren Brown did a reenactment, not a recreation, as he is a Magician not a scientist.
- wlkr 4y ago
  You're right, I've changed the terminology to clarify this for people unfamiliar with Derren Brown.
  - TrinaryWorksToo 4y ago
    Derren has unfortunately been a big source of misinformation. I once saw a video of his at a neuroscience conference.
  - teddyh 4y ago
    Being a re-enactment and not a recreation, it also does not have “results”.
    - wlkr 4y ago
      If you've watched it, re-enactment probably isn't quite the right term either. AFAIK the 'participants' weren't aware it was an 'experiment'. It has results, they are just extremely limited and not rigorous.

neaden 4y ago

A reminder that Milligram faked and selectively edited his data: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/rethinking-one-of-psychologys-most-infamous-experiments/384913/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/rethinkin... along with the equally famous and equally fake Stanford Prison experiment this was an "experiment" that had predefined results that has stuck around because it's what many of us want to believe.

pifm_guy 4y ago
Many of the criticisms of milgrams work are on ethical grounds. Just because something is unethical does not make the results incorrect.
chedca21 4y ago
mola 4y ago
There's been plenty of replications and variations done all over the world with similar results. The Atlantic magazine and other publications circa 2015 ran with this clickbaity narrative because it's , well, a good clickbait. But even though milgrams own expirements have been criticized, those replications do len credibility to the effect. See Wikipedia for details...
- Enginerrrd 4y ago
  Yeah as I see it, the attacks on Milgram were part of a larger fad that went around of finding any excuse to attack unethical science of the past as unscientific and useless or unhelpful. I think previously, the narrative was that such experiments were at least helpful or informative, and that made some people uncomfortable. I think also the particular conclusions of the Milgram and Stanford experiments also deeply upset university liberals because they humanized oppressors and provided some source of empathy for them. There are undoubtedly issues with all such historical science, but I think fighting that small window of empathy is misguided personally, because it forgets one of the most important lessons of history: There really are lots of "normal" people capable of great atrocities under the right conditions. I think it's important and takes more work to pay attention to those conditions, rather than to simply label the perpetrators as evil or inhuman and move on.

blurbleblurble 4y ago

Just a reminder, if you haven't seen it yet be sure to check out the documentary "We Live in Public"!

dariosalvi78 4y ago

"The experimenter" is an excellent movie about the life and work of Stanley Milgram: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3726704/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3726704/

aaron695 4y ago

[dead]