Abstract
Stanley Milgram conducted experiments to determine where submission to authority ends and where people's responsibility begins . The most important consequence of submission to authority: loss of the sense of responsibility. So, he intended to check whether people would prefer to obey a wrong decision taken by a legitimate authority than disturb the social structure. The experiments began in July 1961, a year after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. The participants were told that they will participate in an experiment to test the effects of punishment on learning behavior. If at any time, the subject indicated his desire to halt the experiment he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter.
In one variation, participants received instructions from the experimenter only by telephone. In another, participants had to physically hold the learner's arm onto a shock plate. In another, women were used as participants (all of Milgram's other experiments used only men). Obedience did not differ significantly. Milgram also combined the power of authority with that of conformity, by joining 1 or 2 additional "teachers" (actors actually).
