Milgram vs. Baumrind - 920 Words

When individuals disregard their freedom for the good of the whole, they are no longer considered individuals but products of conformity. Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, engineered an experiment to test the ordinary person’s level of obedience. Many of Milgram’s colleagues admired his intricate experiment, and thought that he provided valid information on the complexity of obedience. One of his colleagues, Diana Baumrind, however, strongly disagreed with Milgram and has good reasons to criticize his experiment. She thought his experiment was unethical and very harmful to the social well-being of the participants. In her article, â€Å"Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience†, she castigated Milgram’s experiment and provided†¦show more content†¦Once the participant realizes that they could have really hurt someone, they become very remorseful. During the experiment, if the teacher said that they did not wish to continue, the experimenter encouraged them to go on. He said that it was vital that they proceed until the test was over. Baumrind brings up a good point by suggesting that Milgram’s comparison of SS men in Nazi Germany to the teacher is faulty. Although they both instructed their â€Å"teachers† on what to do and made it seem as though the victims deserved what they were getting, the SS men would not have perceived their authority figures as benign researchers in a lab. The SS men were led to believe that their victims were unimportant not even worthy of consideration. She alleges this by saying, â€Å"He did not need to feel guilt or conflict because within his frame of reference he was acting rightly† (Baumrind 228), which describes how the SS men felt while torturing their victims. Baumrind accuses Milgram of mistreating his subjects during the experiment. She states that, â€Å"It has become more commonplace in sociopsychological laboratory studies to manipulate, em barrass, and discomfort subjects† (Baumrind 225). She does not condone such studies that cause a person to feel that way. The teacher in the experiment is the only one feeling discomfort. In a way, Milgram is the one who is actually administering theShow MoreRelatedStanley Milgram vs. Diana Baumrind1671 Words   |  7 Pagesinflicted upon another person. The Perils of Obedience by Stanley Milgram reports on his controversial experiment that test how far individuals would go in obeying orders, even if carrying out those orders caused serious harm to others. This experiment caused a lot of controversy and one woman in particular believed that this experiment was immoral. Diana Baumrinds Review of Stanley Milgrams Experiments on Obedience says that Milgram entrapped (329) his subjects and potentionally harmed his subjectsRead MoreStanley Milgram vs. Diana Baumrind Essay1169 Words   |  5 PagesThe Controversy of Obedience A classic experiment on the natural obedience of individuals was designed and tested by a Yale psychologist, Stanley Milgram. The test forced participants to either go against their morals or violate authority. For the experiment, two people would come into the lab after being told they were testing memory loss, though only one of them was actually being tested. The unaware individual, called the â€Å"teacher† would sit in a separate room, administering memory relatedRead MoreMilgram Experiment Essay1532 Words   |  7 PagesBaumrind vs. Milgram debate Milgram’s experiment was an experiment that tested whether people would people would administer shock to another person even though the person receiving the shock would refuse to participate. During the experiment, Milgram would have the subject be the teacher and the other person people the student. While Milgram believed the experiment produced great results, a lady named Diana Baumrind believed the experiment should have not been conducted at all. Baumrind believedRead MoreBlindly Obeying Authority Essay1787 Words   |  8 PagesHolocaust. In the same way, Stanley Milgram noted in his article ‘Perils of Obedience’ of how individuals obeyed authority and neglected their conscience reflecting how this can be destructive in experiences of real life. On the contrary, Diana Baumrind pointed out in her article ‘Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience’ that the experiments were not valid hence useless. Summary of the Experiment In Stanley Milgram’s ‘The Perils of Obedience’, Milgram conducted experiments with the objectiveRead MoreDiana Baumrind2963 Words   |  12 PagesDiana Blumberg Baumrind is a clinical and developmental psychologist that specializes in parenting styles. Baumrind was born on August 23, 1927 in a small Jewish community in New York City; she was the first of two daughters born to Hyman and Mollie Blumberg. Baumrind earned a B.A. in philosophy at Hunter College in 1948. She later received her M.A. and Ph. D. in Psychology at the University of California, Berkley; she studied developmental, clinical, and social psychology. Her doctoral dissertation