The Influence of Groupthink During the Invention of Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Studies

Abstract

This chapter discusses a variety of individual and group factors that can promote groupthink among research teams during the pursuit of scientific knowledge. In the early 1960s, social psychologist Stanley Milgram ran his (in)famous “electric shock” Obedience to Authority experiments at Yale University. As I will show in this chapter, among subjects but also with Milgram and his research team, a variety of individual and group factors likely contributed to a groupthink mindset that inculcated the generalized belief that harming another person was justified in the name of scientific discovery. That is, inflicting harm in the form of intense shocks on the learner or imposing a harrowingly stressful experience on subjects was legitimate because, in return, scientific knowledge would be obtained. This chapter is divided into four sections. First, I will provide a brief overview of Milgram’s two baseline results. Second, I will outline a variety of individual factors that likely contributed to this finding. Third, I will present some group factors that also likely contributed to Milgram’s surprising results. Finally, I will touch on the corrupting force of Milgram’s and his “obedient” subjects’ self-interests when both ended up prioritizing the so-called “scientific” pursuit of knowledge over the welfare of others.