What Makes a Person a Perpetrator? The Intellectual, Moral, and Methodological Arguments for Revisiting Milgram's Research on the Influence of Authority

Abstract

In this article, we outline the rationale for reexamining Milgram's explanation of how ordinary people can become perpetrators of atrocity. We argue, first, that any consideration of these issues cannot ignore the impact of Milgram's ideas in psychology, in other disciplines such as history, and in society at large. Second, we outline recent research in both psychology and history which challenges Milgram's perspective—specifically his “agentic state” account. Third, we identify the moral dangers as well as the analytic weaknesses of his work. Fourth, we point to recent methodological developments that make it ethically possible to revisit Milgram's studies. Combining all four elements we argue that there is a compelling and timely case for reexamining Milgram's legacy and developing our understanding of perpetrator behavior. We then outline how the various articles in this special issue contribute to such a project.

Nothing by Mere Authority: Evidence that in an Experimental Analogue of the Milgram Paradigm Participants are Motivated not by Orders but by Appeals to Science

“…However, this obedience model has been challenged on a number of grounds (Reicher, Haslam, & Miller, ; see also Haslam & Reicher, , b; Reicher, Haslam, & Smith, ). One of these—which is the focus of the present paper—relates to close analysis of the effect of the experimenter's prods on the behavior of Milgram's participants.…”

Obeying, Joining, Following, Resisting, and Other Processes in the Milgram Studies, and in the Holocaust and Other Genocides: Situations, Personality, and Bystanders

“…We need to study more what are the limits of the power both of the situation, and of personality. However, the findings of Milgram's pilot study (Reicher et al., ) in which teachers, who heard no reactions from the learner to the administration of shocks, all continued to the end, suggest that to activate moral concerns requires more than abstract knowledge that one might be doing harm. With regard to group violence, information provided by the media and freedom of communication—absent in highly authoritarian societies– ‐are of great importance in creating the potential for resistance.…”

Más allá de la obediencia: reanálisis de la investigación de Milgram

“…Sin embargo, la revisión crítica de los resultados y del modelo teórico elaborado por Milgram abarca a más líneas de investigación que las llevadas a cabo por Haslam y Reicher y a más disciplinas que a la propia psicología social (Reicher, Haslam y Miller, 2014). La disponibilidad de los archivos de las investigaciones llevadas a cabo por Milgram (Russell, 2011(Russell, , 2014) ha posibilitado el estudio de la interacción entre los participantes y el experimentador en algunos de los experimentos de Milgram (Gibson, 2014), así como el análisis de ciertos experimentos no publicados por este psicólogo social (Rochat y Blass, 2014), en los que se presta atención a los niveles de desobediencia y a los factores que la originan.…”