Applied Crime Prevention

Milgram’s obedience study focused on, under what circumstances ordinary people would be obedient enough to an authority figure to inflict pain to another person. The subjects of the experiment were told to administer a shock to another person if they answered a question incorrectly. After each shock, the subject would increase the amount electricity delivered on the next shock. Unknown to the subjects, the shocks they were administering weren’t real and were played out by the supposed receiver of the shock. According to Bachman and Schutt, even after the recipients or “students” started crying out in pain from the fake shock, the subjects or “teachers” continued to deliver the shocks (Bachman and Schutt, 2013 pg 56- Kindal version). Not all of the subjects continued with the expirement, and also according to Bachman and Schutt, a lot of the participants became very tense especially as they got closer to the lethal levels of electricity they were administering (Bachman and Schutt, 2013 pg 56- Kindal version). Even still, some participants continued to administer the shock even though it was considered as a lethal amount. The subjects were a mix of blue collar, white collar, and professional class citizens with ages ranging from 20-50 years of age (Milgram, 1963 pg. 372)

The results of this experiment can be examined in many ways. One finding that Bachman and Schutt highlighted was the stress of the subjects during the experiment and the after effects on the subjects. According to Bachman and Schutt, the subjects were under “extraordinary tension”. They were observed to sweat, tremble, and bite their lips (Bachmund and Schutt, 2013 pg. 57-Kindal version). Understandably, causing another person harm isn’t an every day occurrence for most people. Inflicting pain to another person would be very stressful as most people are brought up to not hurt others. Bachman and Schutt stated that Milgram surveyed the subjects after the experiments conclusion, and noted that 83.7...