What does this research mean for the field?

The willingness of ordinary individuals to obey authority figures can lead to morally questionable actions, as demonstrated by Milgram's experiments. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONFIRMATORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.SUPPORTS_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This research investigates the extent to which individuals obey authority figures, even when it involves harming others.

February 26, 2026Open Access

The Ordinariness of Goodness

AMAndre ModiglianiUniversity of Michigan FRFrancois Rochat

Key Points

This research investigates the extent to which individuals obey authority figures, even when it involves harming others.
Observation of participants' responses to authority figures in a controlled experiment.
Use of electric shock simulations to assess obedience levels among subjects.
Approximately two-thirds of participants administered severe shocks despite moral objections.
Findings challenged assumptions about human nature and ethical behavior in response to authority.

Abstract

In the early 1960s, Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment on obedience to authority. His findings immediately stunned the scientific community and beyond. People asked, how was it possible that fully two-thirds of the apparently normal adults who participated in Milgram’s study had followed the orders of the experimenter (a technician ostensibly in charge of running a study on memory and learning) to the point of repeatedly inflicting severe electric shocks on a learner who was trying unsuccessfully to memorize a list of 30 pairs of words? Could people really be so willing to obey the orders of an authority figure no matter what the consequences might be for their fellow human beings?

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