The most horrifying psychological experiment in history

Not spilling a drop of blood, no one was killed or injured, but the Milgram Experiment is still known as the most 'inhumane' experiment in history.

Learn the most inhumane experiment in the world

In the history of human science, especially in the field of psychology, there is no shortage of controversial experiments on morality such as the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 or Monster Experiment (1939).The most 'notorious' of these must include the Milgram Experiment on blind obedience and the nature of evil.

Done in July 1961, this experiment once again became a hotly debated topic on forums when the movie Experimenter about Professor Stanley Milgram's life (1933 - 1984) was released on weekends and received countless compliments.

Teacher, student and electric shock

In 1961, Professor Milgram was one of the leading American psychologists working at Yale University. He and his colleagues posted ads to recruit participants for an experiment on the 'impact of penalties on learning' for $ 4 per hour. A total of 40 participants did not know that they were about to enter a horrifying experience.

According to the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , participants who play 'teachers' will ask 'students' questions . Both sat in 2 different rooms and only communicated through the radio. 'Teachers' in turn ask questions and each time the 'student' answers incorrectly , the 'teacher ' will be asked by the supervisor of the experiment to press the button to cause electric shock to punish 'students' with greater intensity. , up to 450 volts. Of course, the 'teacher' had no idea that no one was shocked with electricity and the 'student' who was in Milgram's group, pretending to scream pain or hit the wall of van asked to stop experimenting.

During the experiment, the 'teachers' were uncomfortable and extremely worried. Someone constantly wiped his forehead sweat, who tried to laugh loudly or cry out to ask the condition of the 'practitioner'. However, no one expressed interest in stopping before 135 volts. When it came to 300 volts, some people stopped experimenting and returned the money. However, when the supervisor urged and reassured him that he would not be held responsible for any uncertainty, they continued to press the button despite the screams from the other room.

The insecurity of the 'teachers' in Milgram Experiment - (Photo: The Boston Globe document).

The end result is that only 14 out of 40 'teachers' are determined to stop experimenting at a maximum of 450 volts, which means 65% of participants go to the end. Meanwhile, according to the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , before taking the experiment, Professor Milgram explored the opinions of many final year psychology students as well as colleagues and everyone thought it would be very Few people press the button from behind 300 volts. For many years, Milgram and several other experts conducted hundreds of similar experiments and as a result, less than half of the participants decided to give up. Since then, he has come to the conclusion under the pressure of the mandate of the rights holders, when self-assuming that they are not responsible, humans can cause evil acts, hurt others knowing that they are contrary to faith and morality.

Over the past few decades, the Milgram Experiment suffered countless criticisms of 'unethical, inhumane' when tricking participants into experiencing severe psychological shocks. Many Jewish organizations strongly condemned Professor Milgram's assertion that his experiment could explain the actions of the vast majority of Nazi soldiers and officials during World War 2. In response, those support points out that none of the participants in the experiment had any long-term psychological consequences and that public opinion refuses to accept the truth about 'darkness in every person' . So far, this experiment has been regularly taught at many prestigious universities around the world, while Professor Milgram is ranked 46th on the Review of General list of the 100 best psychologists of the 20th century. Psychology.

Terrifying torture

From 1992 to 2004, there was a series of scams in the United States that some experts considered to be the most eloquent evidence for Professor Milgram's conclusion. According to CNN, an anonymous person called dozens of fast food restaurants across the United States claiming to be a police officer and asked for 'assistance in investigating a theft' . This person describes a 'suspect', usually a woman, who is in the shop, such as an employee or customer, and then asks the restaurant manager to search for a way to strip, beating the victim. There are at least more than 10 cases of listeners complying with all 'police' instructions.

In it, the most serious is the incident occurred on April 9, 2004 at a McDonald's in the town of Mount Washington, Kentucky. The AP led by the court file said the chief store Donna Summers got a phone call from a man claiming to be 'Inspector Scott' saying in the restaurant there was a suspected suspect. 'Scott' described the suspect as a female, slender and dark haired and asked Summers to "help out because the police department lacked the manpower to handle such a small case." So Summers called his boyfriend Walter Nix Jr. came and restrained Louise Ogborn, a restaurant employee who was just 18 years old, in the warehouse.

For many hours, Summers and Nix Jr. follow all the inspectors' telephone inquiries and cause unimaginable actions to 'find evidence and force confession suspects' such as beating, stripping, using hands and invasive objects Ogborn, even forcing victims to have oral sex with Nix Jr.

During that time, Ogborn believed that he was being investigated, so he did not dare to protest. Finally, Nix Jr. end up floating and leave. According to The Courier-Journal, he called you and said: 'I have done a very bad job'. After that, Summers asked another employee to take over Nix Jr. but denied. At this point, Summers began questioning 'Inspector Scott' and the person immediately hung up. It is worth mentioning that during the incident, many restaurant employees did not participate in attacking Ogbron but did not call the police or check the information.

This case attracted great publicity because of its seriousness and 'unbelief' . Many people cannot understand why Summers and Nix Jr. can be 'stupid ' to such an extent and Milgram Experiment is often cited by the media to comment on the incident. After a long time of investigation and trial, Nix Jr. received 6 years in prison in 2006, and Summers was fired by McDonald's for a year of probation. The victim of Ogborn was severely traumatized, undergoing a long period of treatment and giving up his plans to go to college.

In 2007, both Ogborn and Summers sued for McDonald's compensation for lack of responsibility and did not warn employees about previous frauds. After a series of trials and appeals, McDonald's agreed to pay $ 1.1 million for Ogbron and Summers did not receive any money, according to The Courier-Journal.

Meanwhile, the main culprit is still out of the law and investigators have not yet determined who he is. After the 2004 incident, the police arrested a man named David Richard Stewart but the man was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.

The gossip of evil

The Milgram Experiment has long been associated with the concept of The banality of evil of the female philosopher Hannah Arendt ( 1906-1974 , one of the most famous Jewish intellectuals in the world). In 1963. From the process of monitoring the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Jewish genocide during World War 2, Arendt argued that Eichmann and many other Nazi members were not bloodthirsty, killer like we still believe. Instead, they are ordinary people, without any psychological problems.

Eichmann himself, who was dubbed the "European butcher" , did not hate Jews. He argued that horrible crimes had simply done his job well under the agreement of superiors, state, society and Nazi law.

Since then, Arendt concludes in Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Eichmann in Jerusalem) that evil is not something terrible or far away. . It exists in every human being and can arise when conditions permit that we ourselves do not recognize.

Although controversial, this work is still considered a pillar in the field of political philosophy and ethics. Supporters argue that Arendt's concept can explain the greatest tragedies in human history and have a profound warning meaning. Like the character Professor Milgram said in the movie Experimenter: ' We are all puppets and perhaps looking at the rope is the first step to freedom.'