Page - 42 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

42 | Hessel J. Zondag www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 35–46 OBEDIENCE In addition to the conformity experiment carried out by Asch, the documentary shows Milgram’s obedience experiment, the results of which caused great tur- moil.11 The tests were devised as a means to establish why during the Second World War so many men had been prepared to commit mass killings. How eas- ily do people obey and how far will they go to follow orders? How readily or how hesitantly will people comply with orders to kill? Milgram began his experi- ments just after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961, which had brought these burning questions to the attention of a larger public. In its basic form Milgram’s experiment proceeds as follows. Three participants each adopt a separate role: the test subject plays the role of teacher; a co-worker plays the pupil; and another co-worker leads the experiment and gives the in- structions. The teacher does not know that the pupil is also a co-worker and sup- poses that the pupil is also a test subject. The teacher gives assignments that the pupil must carry out; if the pupil fails, the teacher must administer a punishment in the form of an electric shock. After each failure, the voltage of the electric pulse is increased. If the teacher hesitates to carry out the punishment, the leader of the experiment states that the teacher has no option other than to continue. What made the experiment controversial was that many participants were prepared to continue to give electric shocks even at 450 volts, a fatal level. The proportion of people willing to administer this value even reached 65 per cent on occasion. Before Milgram started the experiments, he had asked a number of experts to predict what percentage of participants would be willing to ad- minister the maximum voltage. Their highest estimate was three per cent. In some instances, that figure was multiplied twentyfold. Yet many other partici- pants refused to continue and even withdrew from the experiment. This aspect of the data received less attention. Whether the participant obeyed or refused could be dependent on attrib- utes of authority they encountered. When the leader of the experiment wore a white coat, he was more frequently obeyed than when he wore everyday clothes. In one version of the experiment a fourth role was introduced, that of assistant to the leader. When assistant and leader appeared to differ on wheth- er the experiment should be continued, the number of test subjects prepared to carry out the punishment decreased almost to zero. We know nothing of the characteristics of those who did not conform, as was also the case for Asch’s experiment. The researcher’s purpose was to in- vestigate the impact and power of orders. The experiments were not designed to establish personal characteristics that might be associated with refusal or obedience. 11 Milgram 1974.