Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did later reviews raise questions about the reliability of the Milgram experiment?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Stanley Milgram American social psychologist Stanley Milgram with the “shock generator” used in his famous experiment at Yale University in the 1960s.

Later reviews of the Milgram experiment have raised significant questions regarding the reliability of its findings and conclusions. These critiques primarily focus on two areas:

Participant Awareness: Researchers noted that some participants suspected they were the actual subjects of the study and correctly guessed that the experiment was designed to test their obedience to the authority figure, rather than the effects of punishment on learning.12
Experimental Conduct: Data analysis revealed that the experimenters occasionally deviated from the established script in their efforts to coerce participants into continuing the shocks, which may have influenced the results.1

Despite these concerns, it is important to note that subsequent attempts to validate Milgram’s findings using more ethical methodologies have frequently produced similar results. The original experiments remain highly controversial, particularly due to the extreme stress placed on participants and the lack of proper debriefing, which would be considered unethical by modern scientific standards.12