Everyday Evil, Part 3: Obedience

In 1963, psychologist Stanley Milgram publicized the results of his obedience experiments. The paper, "Behavioral study of obedience," is probably the most significant and controversial paper ever published in psychology. The question of the study was simply this: How many normal people would administer painful and potentially dangerous electric shocks over the protest of a victim simply because an authority figure asked them to?

The result: 65%

The ethical outrage about the experiments centered on the issue of submitting unwitting participants to such a stressful, psychologically painful, and ego-damaging experience (evidence for this can be seen in the footage below).

The tension in the obedience studies was that the studies revealed so much about human psychology but was the cost too high? Regardless, the insight into everyday evil is undeniable: We are all capable of doing terrible things.

I think the church should sit down with the obedience studies and reflect on them. Too often, we feel smugly secure in our own virtue. But as I've repeatedly argued in this series, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

Three clips follow. All are very good. The first is a dramatic recreation of the original Milgram experiments. It recreates the procedures of the study, the emotional tensions, and the final impact on the particpants. The second clip gives actual footage from the orginal study. The final clip is of a modern-day replication of the Milgram experiment done in Britain. It is, in my opinion, the most difficult of the three clips to watch. I'd recommend watching them in order. Finally, I think all three clips would make for an interesting bible class, youth or adult.