The Milgram Experiment

Which among the underlined words in the paragraph means has occurred energetically and violently?

The controversy over the ethics of Milgram’s research has raged for decades.  In combination with other controversial issues, it has prompted a deep and abiding concern for protecting the welfare of subjects in psychological research.  Because of such concerns, it is most unlikely that Milgram’s research could be conducted today. 

• raged

• controversial

• prompted

• deep and abiding concern

What was being studied in the experiments?

• how punishment affects learning

• how unwilling humans are to hurt others

• to what extent a person would follow orders

• to what extent will someone suffer if told to do so for a study

As the shocks increased in the experiment...

• the learner showed distress, and the experimenter encouraged the teacher to continue

• the teacher was encouraged to back out of the experiment if they felt uncomfortable

• the experimenter would ask the teacher and learner how they were feeling

• the learner and the experimenter would encourage the teacher to continue

What did the results of Milgram's experiment show us?

• people will always consider the consequences of their actions when following orders

• a high percentage of people will hurt someone to comply with an authority figure

• people will require some amount of convincing to hurt another person

• it takes a certain type of person to willingly hurt another individual

What is the central idea of the text?

• Participants' willingness to shock another person in Milgram's experiment shows how people will abandon their morals to follow the orders of authority figures

• The people who shocked the learner with the highest voltage were abnormal participants and are not reflective of the average citizen

• The distress that the teacher and learner both exhibited in Milgram's experiment shows how unethical his practices were

• Participants felt less impacted by the suffering of the learners because they were unable to hear or see them

How does the author develop their analysis of the Milgram experiment?

• They describe what most experts expected to learn from the experiment than the actual findings and why they were so surprising

• They describe the result of Milgram's experiment and how we see examples of citizens blindly following orders in the real world

• They describe the real-world events that inspired Milgram's experiment and how he was affected by his findings

• They provide basic information about the experiment and discuss surprising findings

How does paragraph 6 contribute to the author's explanation of Milgram's experiment?

• It shows people are too optimistic when they think about the compassion people feel for each other

• It proves how much the experts know about how people will respond when presented with a direct order

• It emphasizes how results of the study strongly contradicted the predictions of experts about how participants would behave

• It emphasizes how participants in the study were significantly more compassionate when they realized the learner was ill in some way

How does paragraph 8 contribute to the development of ideas in the text?

• It demonstrates that conducting experiments with human participants is dangerous

• It emphasizes how human morality can be overridden by the commands of authority figures

• It discredits the idea that even good people are capable of evil under certain circumstances or influence

• It proves the relationship between authority figures and subordinates will not affect the outcome of the experiment

What was the reason for both experiments

• To test whether or not they would follow authority even if its unethical.

• They are sadistic and they enjoy watching people suffer.

• They want to impress the head of the lab for a promotion and have a bigger pay.

• To see how far they would go on harming others when given authority.

Which word in the following sentence is a synonym for 'obedience'? 'The Milgram Experiment demonstrated the extent of human compliance to authority.'

• A) compliance

• B) authority

• C) extent

• D) demonstrated