Practice question · Multiple choice
Milgram's participants obeyed at high rates, and Zimbardo's guards became abusive within days. The popular lesson is that anyone would do the same in the right situation. Why is that reading too strong, and what remains?
Hints
- Look at the number that is usually left out: what happened to the other 35%?
- Milgram ran many variations. What did moving the learner into the same room do?
Show the answer
A. Because a third refused, and obedience collapsed when varied.
Why
The famous figure is 65%, and the sentence usually stops there, 35% refused under the same pressure, and obedience fell sharply in every variation Milgram ran. A situation you can dial up and down is exerting influence, not control. The real discovery is the gap: psychiatrists had predicted a fraction of one per cent.
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