Behavioral Study of Obedience.

This article describes a procedure for the study of destructive obedience in the laboratory. It coruists of ordering a naive S to administer increasingly more w e r e punishment to a victim in the context of a learning experiment. Punishment is .administered by means of a shock generator with 30 graded switches ranging from Slight Shock to Danger: Severe Shock. The victim is a confederate of the E. The primary dependent variable is the maximum shock tht S is willing to administer before he refuses to continue further. 26 Ss obeyed the experimental commands fully, and administered the highest shock on the generator. 14 Ss broke off the experiment a t some point after the victim protested and refused to provide further answers. The procedure created extreme levek of nervous tension in some Ss. Profuse sweating, trembling, and stuttering were typical expressions of this emotional disturbance. One unexpected sign of tension-yet to be explained-was the regular occurrence of nervous laughter, which in some Ss developed into uncontrollable seizures. The variety of interesting behavioral dynamics observed in the experiment, the reality of the situation for the S, and the possibility of parametric variation within the framework of the procedure, point to the fruitfulness of further study.