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PLAN GALLERY XCVII
GALLERY XCVII

The Obedience Studies

Milgram and Zimbardo are the two most famous studies in social science, are taught in every introductory course, and are both now substantially contested. What survives the contest is the more interesting question.

Charles Horton Cooley
ON THE FLOOR
Charles Horton Cooley
Theorist designate - flagged from the theory registry (#8494)
“You learned who you are by watching what other people reflected back at you. The mirror, it turns out, was people all along.”
Edward Soja
ON THE FLOOR
Edward Soja
Theorist designate - flagged from the theory registry (#8494)
“Space is not the stage the story happens on - it is one of the actors. Ask WHERE, and half the mystery answers itself.”
George Herbert Mead
ON THE FLOOR
George Herbert Mead
Theorist designate - flagged from the theory registry (#8494)
“The self is a conversation: the I speaking, the Me listening with everyone else's ears. You rehearse society every time you think.”
LAB3-046 · The Obedience Studies — Open the drawer
A functional replica of the electrical shock apparatus used in Stanley Milgram's 1963 obedience studies at Yale University, designed to deliver graduated shocks from 15 to 450 volts and featuring labeled intensity switches that subjects believed controlled real punishment.
LAB3-047 · The Obedience Studies — What is this thing?
A functional electrical apparatus designed by William Senter at Yale University (1961) to deliver graduated shocks in Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments. Participants believed they administered real punishment to learners; the generator produced sound and lights but no actual current.
LAB3-048 · The Obedience Studies — Read the source
A typed instruction card listing four verbal prods used by experimenters to push hesitant participants toward administering electric shocks. The prods escalate from mild to coercive, revealing how experimenter behavior shaped obedience outcomes.
LAB3-049 · The Obedience Studies — Map it / time it
A functional reproduction of the 1960s electrical apparatus used in Milgram's obedience experiments, showing the 30 switches labeled from 15 to 450 volts with verbal designations from 'Slight Shock' to 'Danger: Severe Shock.'
LAB3-050 · The Obedience Studies — Two sources disagree
A period photograph of the electroshock apparatus used in Milgram's obedience experiments (1961–1963), showing the instrument panel with voltage labels and switches that subjects believed delivered real shocks to learners.
LAB3-051 · The Obedience Studies — State the claim
A functional reproduction of the electrical shock apparatus used in Milgram's 1961–1963 obedience experiments at Yale, demonstrating how ordinary people administered escalating voltage under experimenter instruction.
LAB3-052 · The Obedience Studies — Take the other side
A peer-reviewed experimental protocol from Burger's 2009 replication of Milgram's obedience paradigm under modern IRB ethics, demonstrating that situational pressure effects persist when deception and harm are minimized.
LAB3-053 · The Obedience Studies — Weigh it
A standardized four-line prompt card used by experimenters in Milgram's obedience studies to prod reluctant participants toward administering electric shocks. The card's existence and wording are central to debates over experimenter coercion versus situational compliance.
LAB3-054 · The Obedience Studies — Build the answer
Audio recordings from Milgram's 1961–1962 baseline obedience experiments at Yale, capturing verbal exchanges between experimenter and subject during shock administration trials, preserved in archival collections.
LAB3-055 · The Obedience Studies — For the file
A signed participant consent document from Milgram's 1963 obedience studies at Yale, authorizing electrical shock administration under experimenter direction. Central to debates over informed consent, deception protocols, and whether archival records support claims of coercion or voluntary compliance.
LAB3-056 · The Obedience Studies — Go and look
A 1960s informed-consent document from Stanley Milgram's Yale obedience studies, signed by participants before administering electric shocks to learners. Central to debates over ethics, deception, and whether consent itself was illusory.
LAB3-057 · The Obedience Studies — Now, today
A typed instruction card from Milgram's 1960s obedience experiments listing the four standardized verbal prompts experimenters used to push subjects toward administering shocks. The sheet reveals the precise situational pressure mechanism at the study's core.
LAB3-058 · The Obedience Studies — Teach it back
A wooden-boxed electrical device with labeled voltage dials (15–450V) and red shock buttons, used in Stanley Milgram's 1961–62 obedience experiments at Yale. Subjects believed they administered real shocks to learners; the generator produced no actual current.
LAB3-059 · The Obedience Studies — The other place
A comparative documentation system used by researchers across multiple countries to standardize measurement of obedience and defiance in shock-administration experiments, revealing methodological drift and regional variation in experimenter instruction.
LAB3-060 · The Obedience Studies — One object, close
A signed informed consent document from Milgram's 1963 obedience experiments, detailing participant agreement to electric shock procedures and compensation. Represents the legal and ethical framework surrounding the study's most contested claims.
🎧 A moment to consider
What will you carry out of this room?
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