Reaction Paper - Milgram Experiments.
"Teacher please continue, the experiment requires that you continue." How would I have reacted to the experimenter in the famous Milgrim study? I am confident that I would not have continued to the 450-volt level; however, I believe I would have been obedient to the experiment to at least 150-volts. I believe because of my background knowledge and beliefs I would not have given shocks much above the 150-volt level. However, the experimenter's reward, informational, expert, and legitimate power would bring me to at least the 100 volt level.
While all of the experimenter's powers would influence me somewhat, my background knowledge in electricity, first aid, and experience with heart disease take away much of the expert power held by the experimenter. As a young child, I did the 9-volt battery thing and I can still remember the pain. While there is a difference between putting a battery on your tongue and giving a shock on someone's wrist, I will always remember that pain. Furthermore, voltage is used to kill people in the electric chair and although electric chairs typically use 2000 volts (a fellow student in high school did a presentation on electric chairs), 450 volts are approximately one-fourth of an electric chair. Pacemakers use electricity to work - clearly someone with a heart condition should not be receiving any type of significant shock. Finally, the labels on the machine would have alerted me to the dangers of electricity and shock theory. The 400 volt switches were labeled "Danger: Serve Shock" and then "XXX." In adhering to the labels, it is possible that I am giving them expert power over me. I would have given the labels weight in my decision-making process, and in doing so may not have thought to consider the fact that the experimenters built the machine and created those same labels.
The experimenter had legitimate and informational power, his role was to explain and oversee the "experiment.
