Stanley+Milgram+7

= S t a n l e y M i l g r a m =

General Information

 * Born:** August 15, 1933
 * Died:** December 20, 1984


 * Occupation:**
 * Social Psychologist
 * Professor at Yale


 * Educational Background:**
 * James Monroe High School in New York
 * Queen's College BA in Political Science
 * Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Harvard


 * Psychological Perspective:**
 * Stanley Milgram would be considered a Cognitive Psychologist because his work tested how people would act in certain situations and how they would act under extreme stress, and that is what basically defines Cognitive Psychology: Emphasizes the role that thought play in determining behavior. Milgram studied why people did things they did and what their mind told them to do in stressful situations this is especially apparent in his famous "Obedience to Authority" experiment.

**Three Major Accomplishments in Psychology:**

 * 1) **//Lost Letter Experiment//:** Sealed and stamped letters were put in public places, addressed to different parties, such as organizations like "The Medical Research Institutes", and unfavorable groups like "Friends of the Nazi Party". Milgram discovered that most of the letters to the favorable parties were sent; however, most of the mail that was addressed to unfavorable parties were not. (Original source) [|[]
 * 2) **//Milgram Experiment//:** This experiment, also know as the obedience to authority experiment, was first conducted when Stanley Milgram proposed that the leaders under Hitler were just following his orders. In this test there were supposedly two random volunteers but in actuality there was only one volunteer and one actor. They were both asked to pick a card one that said “Teacher” and one that said “Learner”, but again in actually they both said “Teacher”. The role of “Learner” was played by the actor who said that his card said “Learner”. The two were separated and put into different rooms. Then the “Teacher” was given a shock to show that it was real. Then he/she was told to ask the “Learner” (the actor) questions, and for every answer he got wrong the “Teacher” was to administer a shock that increased in volts for every wrong answer up to 450 volts. During every experiment the random volunteer questioned the experiment but not until the shock was at 300 volts. When ever the volunteer would question it the response from the experimenter (another actor) was always one of the following: 1. Please continue. 2. The experiment requires that you continue. 3. It is absolutely essential that you continue. 4. You have no other choice, you must go on. Milgram’s results for these series of experiments were that 65% or (26 of 40) would go on to the end of the experiment (administering 450 volts) and the rest would not.
 * 3) **//Anti-Social Behavior Experiment://** This experiment focused on media consumption, (ie. radio, television, ect.) and how it affected one's behavior. The subjects were given a choice to steal money, donated to a charity, or do neither. Milgram wanted to find out if the ending of a series called //Medical Center// influenced the choice to either steal, donate, or neither.

**Two Other Contributions Made in the Field of Science or Psychology:**

 * 1) **//The Familiar Stranger//:** Milgram started studying this in 1971. A familiar person is someone which you see every day but not have been introduced to this could be on the subway, in the car, the bus, or any public event. Milgram published a book on this in 1974 called //'Frozen World of the Familiar Stranger'//' describing this in further depth.
 * 2) **//Small World Phenomenon://** In 1967 Milgram started a series of experiments. These experiments concluded that people are closer together (our social network) than we think. Milgram concluded that people had short path lengths (people they knew). Sometimes this experiment is compared with and associated with Milgram's //'six degrees of separation'//.


 * Youtube Video:**

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 * Works Cited:**

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