Week 7 Video forum on Power and Influence

This video illustrates the Milgram Studies. In 1961, Stanley Milgram conducted a series of experiments where individuals were instructed by the experimentor to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to another subject. The high incidence of “obedience” in the face of extreme suffering was quite remarkable! The mental anguish experienced by the real subjects, even after debriefing, caused public universities in the U.S. to require all research involving people, to be subject to review by a “human subjects” research committee, before the research could take place — this even included my work-family conflict survey at UNL.

Interestingly, such standards must not exist in the UK where this experiment was more recently re-enacted with the same results. To watch, go to: (10:47). It’s quite fascinating. Please share your reflections.