The aim was to see whether ordinary people will obey a legitimate authority even when required to injure an innocent person.
Variations
Lab coat makes him seem higher in authority
The ordinary person was made to believe that they were shocking the other person. the other person was actually an actor who pretended to get shocked. Milgrim played the role of the authoritive figure and pressured the person to continue with the study.
Ethical criticism
65% of participants shocked the other up to the maximum 450 volts which was considered deadly. All participants continued up to 300 volts which is when the actor fell silent.
None Ethical Criticism
One variation is that Milgrim wore a lab coat to emphasise his authority and make the people more likely to obey.
Deception was used as the participants werent aware that the actor wasnt actually being shocked.
the study was only carried out on American men so it doesnt aply to any other social categories.