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Abstract: Milgram's original paradigm for studying obedience to
authority is briefly described, and the main results are
summarized. Personal observations of the conduct of the initial
studies give added context for interpreting the results.
Psychologists' reactions to the Milgram experiments are
discussed in terms of (1) rejecting the research on ethical
grounds, (2) explaining away the results as expressions of
trivial phenomena, (3) subsuming obedience to destructive
authority under other explanatory rubrics, and (4) endorsing or
rejecting the results in terms of their perceived social
relevance or irrelevance. "The problem of obedience to authority
may well be the crucial issue of our time. The experiments you
took part in represent the first efforts to understand this
phenomenon in an objective, scientific manner." (Stanley
Milgram, Report to Memory Project Subjects, 1962b) Obedience to