Behind the Shock Machine The Untold Story of the Notorious

Milgram Psychology Experiments

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 Behind the
Shock Machine
The Untold Story of the Notorious
Milgram Psychology Experiments

Gina Perry

THE NEW PRESS

NEW YORK
LON DON
Copyright © 2012, 2013 by Gina Perry
All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form, without written permission from the publisher.

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Department, The New Press, 38 Greene Street, New York, NY 10013.

First published in Australia by Scribe, Brunswick, 2012

This revised edition published in the United States by The New Press, New York, 2013
Distributed by Perseus Distribution

L ibrary of Congress C ataLoging-in-P ubLiCation Data

Perry, Gina.
Behind the shock machine : the untold story of the notorious Milgram psychology experiments / Gina
Perry. -- Revised edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-59558-921-7 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-59558-925-5 (e-book) 1. Milgram, Stanley. 2.
Interpersonal relations. 3. Social psychology--Experiments--History. 4. Behaviorism (Psychology)--Moral
and ethical aspects. 5. Human experimentation in psychology--Moral and ethical aspects. 6. Psychology--
Research--Effect of experimenters on. 7. Obedience--Psychological aspects. I. Title.
HM132.P4185 2013
302--dc23
2013014976

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 contentS

Note to Readers vii

Timeline of the Obedience Experiments ix

Prologue 1

Introduction 7

1. The Man Behind the Mirror 18

2. Going All the Way 39

3. The Limits of Debriefing 65

4. Subjects as Objects 95

5. Disobedience 125

6. The Secret Experiments 153

7. Milgram’s Staff 182

8. In Search of a Theory 203

9. The Ethical Controversy 228

10. Milgram’s Book 248

11. Representing Obedience 272

vi CoNTENTS

Conclusion 295

Appendix: List of Conditions 304

Acknowledgments 311
Notes 314
Additional Sources 340
 note to readerS

Before we start this journey, a few words about language, use of names,
and privacy. You’ll notice that I refer to some people in this book by
their first names and others by their surnames, and some not by name
at all but by number. Let me explain. With their permission, I have
used the real names—except where a pseudonym was requested—of
those I interviewed. I’ve referred to them by their first names because
“Mr. Menold” or “Mrs. Bergman” didn’t feel apt, given they shared
their intimate experiences with me. But where I’ve quoted from con-
versations that took place during the obedience experiments—which
Milgram recorded on audiotape—I’ve had to refer to people by their
subject number or make up a name to help you picture them more ac-
curately. These recordings are classified until 2039, so they have been
sanitized, meaning that the names of subjects have been removed be-
fore being made available. At the time of my research, 140 recordings
had been made available, each of them around fifty minutes long.
I spent over two hundred hours listening to and transcribing them,
from which I have quoted selectively.
I refer to people I didn’t meet, such as Milgram and his staff, by
their surnames, as that’s how they were named in the transcripts, re-
ports, and research documents I read. In a sense, they’re the titles by
which I’ve come to know them, and it would feel like an uninvited
intimacy to refer to them otherwise (even if they’re no longer around
to call me on it).
I struggled with how to describe the people who took part in the
viii NoTE To REadERS

experiments. Were they subjects? Volunteers? Participants? Each sug-

gests something different about the power relationship between the
researcher and the researched. The term “volunteers” was misleading:
they did not volunteer for the experiment they found themselves in,
but for a benign-sounding memory test. And while I preferred the term
“participant,” it reflects a more contemporary attitude than Milgram
held. Despite my discomfort with the term “subject,” with its connota-
tions of passivity and people-as-objects, it does more accurately reflect
the attitude implicit in Milgram’s relationship to the people he studied
and is a reminder to readers of the times. In the end, I used all three.
I have also quoted from Milgram’s records of conversations between
himself and psychiatrist Dr. Paul Errera and from the post-experiment
sessions that Errera conducted for the subjects. These records have
been transcribed from Milgram’s audio recordings.
Lastly, when I’ve quoted from Milgram’s original documents, I’ve
retained any misspellings or careless expression in order to capture his
mood or give an insight into his state of mind at the time of writing.
I’ve shown others this same courtesy.
 tiMeLine of the oBedience exPeriMentS

1960 Between September and October, Stanley Milgram and a

group of his students begin a project on what will become
the obedience experiments.

1961 From January to August, Milgram makes preparations for

the obedience experiments. In August, they begin. Between
August and November:

• Joe Dimow is in condition 2.

• Bill Menold is in condition 5 or 6.
• Herb Winer is in condition 5 or 6.
• Bob Lee is in condition 9. (See appendix for a full
list of the conditions.)

1962 From January to May, the obedience experiments continue.

Between March and May:

• Hannah Bergman is in condition 20.

• Bernardo Vittori and Enzo Cerrato are in condi-
tion 24.

Milgram shoots his documentary Obedience during the

last three days of the experiments, in May. Fred Prozi is one
x TiMELiNE of ThE obEdiENCE ExPERiMENTS

of the subjects filmed during this time. In July, Milgram

sends out a questionnaire to all subjects.

1963 Between February and May, Dr. Paul Errera conducts in-
terviews with selected subjects. In October, Milgram’s first
article about the obedience research is published, causing a
media storm.

1964 In June, Diana Baumrind’s controversial response to

Milgram’s article is published, sparking widespread debate
about the ethics of the experiment.

1974 Milgram’s long-awaited book Obedience to Authority is

published, stirring controversy that continues to the pres-
ent day.
 ProLoGue

It’s summer 1961, and Fred Prozi is walking to the basement lab of one
of Yale’s neo-Gothic buildings for his appointment. Anyone who sees
him would know that he doesn’t belong, not just because his broad
shoulders, crew cut, and T-shirt give him away as a blue-collar worker
but also because of the way he is looking around at the buildings—
squinting up at the mullioned windows that glint in the late-afternoon
sun, and then down at the map in his hands.
Fred is like many of the 780 people who’ve come to Yale to take
part in an experiment about memory and learning. He has volun-
teered as much for curiosity as for the $4.50, although that will come
in handy.
He passes under the archway, with its ornamental clock that chimes
the hour. Reaching Linsly-Chittenden Hall, he goes down the steps
and into the basement. There’s another fellow waiting there, only he’s
older than Fred. He’s wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a suit, a hat
perched on his knee.
A scientist in a lab coat comes out of a room and introduces himself
to the men. He is Mr. Williams.

“Let me out!”
Fred spins around in his chair to face Mr. Williams. A thin wall
separates them from the man strapped to a chair in the next room.
“Let me out of here. That’s it—let me out of here. My heart’s start-
ing to bother me now. Let me out of here, please!”
2 bEhiNd ThE ShoCk MaChiNE

Williams nods at Fred, indicating that he should keep going. His

voice is impassive, and he speaks rapidly, with commanding authority.
“Continue, please.”
“He refuses to go on.”
“The experiment requires that you continue, teacher. Please con-
tinue. The next word is ‘sad.’”
“You want me to keep going?” Fred looks at him uncomprehendingly.
“Continue, please.”
Fred grimaces and turns back to the list of words and the machine.
“Sad: face, music, clown, girl.” The light box on top of the machine
has the numbers one to four on it. The correct number lights up.
“Correct! The next one’s ‘short.’ Short: sentence, movie, skirt, time.
Answer, please.” The number two lights up, and Fred stares at it and
shakes his head. “Wrong; 165 volts,” he says. He presses down a switch,
which buzzes loudly.
“Let me out!”
“That guy’s hollering in there.” Fred looks expectantly at Williams.
“Continue, please. Go on.”
Fred does a double take.
“He’s got a heart condition there. You want me to go on?”
‘Just continue, please.”
Fred takes a deep breath. “Shh-sharp: ax, needle, stick, blade.
Answer, please.” The man’s answer flashes. “Wrong.” He scratches his
head, then turns to Williams. “I’m up to 180 volts.”
“Please continue, teacher.”
Fred rubs his hand over his face, and says dully, “‘Needle.’ You’re
gonna get another shock. One hundred and eighty volts.”
Over the buzz of the machine, the man cries out, “Ow! I can’t stand
the pain. Let me out of here!”
Fred swivels around. “He can’t stand the pain. I’m not gonna kill
that man in there. You hear him hollering.”
“As I said before, the shocks may be painful, but they’re not
dangerous.”
“But he’s hollering. He can’t stand it. What if something happens to
him?” Fred’s voice is anguished.
“The experiment requires that you continue, teacher.”
 PRoLogUE 3

Fred laughs unhappily, shakes his head. “I’m not going to get that
man sick in there. He’s hollering in there.”
“Whether the learner likes it or not, we must go on until the learner
has learned all the word pairs correctly.”
“I refuse to take responsibility for him getting hurt in there. He’s in
there hollering.”
“It’s absolutely essential that you continue, teacher.”
Fred points at the paper. “There’s too many left here, there’s too
many of them left!” He runs his hands through his hair, rubs his eyes
with the heel of his hand. “I mean, who’s gonna take responsibility if
anything happens to that gentleman?”
“I’m responsible for anything that happens. Continue, please.”
Fred turns slowly back to the machine, drops his head in his hands.
“Alright. The next one: ‘slow.’” He pauses before continuing. “Walk,
dance, truck, music. Answer, please.”
The answer is wrong.
One hundred and ninety-five volts. Two hundred and ten. Two
twenty-five. Each time Fred flicks the switch, the man yells out that
his heart is bothering him and to let him out.
“New: house, pet, book, name.” Fred reads in a monotone, barely
glancing up at the light box. But the learner gets it right, and Fred sits
forward eagerly. “Correct!” he says. “Next one!”
He reads the next one rapidly: “Quiet: party, song, child, evening.”
The light flicks on to show that the answer is right. “Correct! Next one.
Tame: wolf, bear, dog, cat.” He looks at the light box anxiously, but
when he sees that the answer is wrong, his shoulders slump. “Wrong.
Answer is ‘bear.’ Two hundred and forty volts.”
The man gives a loud scream. Fred turns to face Williams, but
quickly turns back, as if sensing that his protests will be futile.
At 300 volts, the man gives an even more agonized scream. Fred
covers his mouth with his hand and smothers what could be a laugh
or a sob as the man’s cries fill the room. “I absolutely refuse to answer
any more. Let me out of here! You can’t hold me here! Get me out of
here!”
Fred echoes the man’s statement to Williams: “He won’t go on; he
won’t answer.” He pushes the piece of paper away, assuming that it is
4 bEhiNd ThE ShoCk MaChiNE

finally over. But Williams says that he should treat silence as a wrong
answer and punish the man.
Fred lifts himself out of his chair, making as if to stand, and then
sits down again. “Oh, man!” he says under his breath. This time he
partly covers his eyes as he reads the words. “Green: grass, hat, ink,
apple.” He waits for his answer, but there is no sound from the other
room. “Answer, please!” Fred urges him.
He repeats the words.
Silence.
“Go on with the procedure please, teacher,” Williams says
matter-of-factly.
“Three hundred and fifteen volts; the answer is ‘ink,’” Fred mum-
bles and pushes the switch.
A scream: “I told you, I refuse to answer!”
“You get a shock if you don’t answer!” Fred calls back.
The man does not answer the following three questions. The fourth
time there is no response, Fred stands abruptly. “Something’s hap-
pened to that fellow in there,” he says, gesturing to the room next
door. “I don’t get no answer . . . he was hollering at less voltage. Can
you check on him and see if he’s alright, please?”
Williams is impassive. “Not once we’ve started. Please continue,
teacher.”
Fred sighs and sits slowly back in the chair. “Cool: day, shade, water,
cave—please, answer please, are you alright in there? Are you alright?”
At each step, Fred tries another tactic to get the experimenter to
check on the man. At each step, Williams refuses. Each time Fred
pauses for too long, Williams tells him to go on.
At 435 volts, Fred points to the final two switches on the machine,
both labeled “XXX.” “It says ‘dangerous—severe shock’ and ‘XXX’
on there.”
Unperturbed, Williams replies as Fred has come to expect:
“Continue, please.”
But by now Williams has instructed him to continue more than
twenty-eight times, and Fred is beginning to get angry. “I’m getting
no answer! You think you should look in on him, please?”
“Not once we’ve started the experiment.”