"In [Stanley] Milgram's controversial study (Milgram, 1963, 1965; Miller, 1986), a researcher explained to male recruits that they would be taking part in a study of how punishment affects learning. One by one, he assigned them to the role of teacher and placed another individual--actually an accomplice of Milgram's--in a connecting room to pose as a learner.

"The teacher watched the learner sit down in a contraption resembling an electric chair. As the teacher looked on, the researcher applied electrode paste to the learner's wrist, explaining that this would 'prevent blisters and burns.' The researcher then attached an electrode to the learner's wrist and fastened the leather straps, explaining that these would 'prevent excessive movement while the learner was being shocked.' Although the shocks would be painful, the researcher reassured the teacher, they would cause 'no permanent tissue damage.'

"The researcher then led the teacher back into the adjoining room, pointing out that the 'electric chair' was connected to a 'shock generator,' actually a phony but realistic-looking piece of equipment with a label that read 'Shock Generator, Type ZLB, Dyson Instrument Company, Waltham, Mass.' On the front was a dial that supposedly regulated electric current beginning with 15 volts (labelled 'Slight Shock'), going up to 300 volts ('Intense Shock'), and, finally, to 450 volts (marked 'Danger: Severe Shock').

"Seated in front of the 'shock generator,' the teacher was told to read aloud pairs of words. Then the teacher was to repeat the first wrod of each pair and wait for the learner to recall the second word. Whenever the learner failed to answer correctly, the teacher was instructed to apply an electric shock.

"The researcher directed the teacher to begin at the lowest leve (15 volts) and to increase the shock by another 15 volts every time the learner made a mistake. And so they did. At 75, 90, and 105 volts, the teacher heard moans from the learner; at 120 volts, shouts of pain; by 270 volts, screams; at 315 volts, pounding on the wall; after that, deadly silence. None of the forty subjects assigned to the role of teacher during the initial research even questioned the procedure before reaching 300 volts, and twenty-sex of the subjects--almost two-thirds--went all the way to 450 volts. Even Milgram was surprised at how readily people obeyed authority figures."

From Society: The Basics by John J. Macionis, 2002.