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What if one of the most famous and influential psychology experiments of the twentieth century was proven invalid? In October 1963, the New York Times reported the findings of an experiment by psychologist Stanley Milgram: “Sixty-five Percent in Test Blindly Obey Order to Inflict Pain.” The headline is typical of the standard version of the story, which Milgram himself promoted: In his lab, he established a disturbing, universal truth about human obedience to authority.

In Behind the Shock Machine, Gina Perry shows that nearly every crucial detail of that standard version is either misleading or false. We already knew that aspects of Milgram’s experiment were deceptive. He led his research subjects to believe that, by pushing a button on an electronic device, they would give painful, perhaps dangerous, electric shocks to another volunteer when he responded incorrectly. In fact, the machine was fake and the other volunteer was a member of Milgram’s staff, who feigned cries of protest each time he was “shocked.”

Perry’s reassessment of the experiment reveals the depth of deception that Milgram undertook in order to “discover” and promote his findings. Although popular understanding focuses on a single experiment, Milgram in fact conducted more than 20, with varying conditions, involving nearly 800 volunteers. Overall, a majority of his subjects actually refused to obey. Milgram either de-emphasized or actively suppressed evidence that ran contrary to his desired conclusions.

What Milgram counted as “obedience” is equally misleading. Recordings of the experiments reveal subjects who repeatedly refused to comply, but reluctantly continued when the researcher insisted. Some protested as many as 24 times before continuing.

To Milgram, as long as they pushed the button, they were “blindly obedient.”

Perry’s richly detailed reassessment of the Milgram experiments makes for terrific reading. Her absorbing narrative redeems the humanity of the people who participated in those experiments and challenges us to rethink what we take to be their fundamental lesson about human nature.

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Andy Lee Roth is the associate director of Project Censored, where he coordinates the Campus Affiliates Program. He has coedited eleven editions of the Project Censored yearbook, including State of the Free Press 2021, published by Seven Stories Press in December 2020. Roth has previously written for YES! Magazine about Eduardo Galeano's legacy and the Baltimore Algebra Project鈥檚 revolutionary model of high school education.

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