Pressure to Conform

In the 1960’s Stanley Milgram began a series of experiments. These experiments were fiendishly simple but the results shocked the world of social science. Milgram took two volunteers off the street; the volunteers were told they were to be involved in an experiment on enhanced learning. One volunteer would act as the teacher and the other would act as the pupil. The volunteers drew straws to determine who would be the pupil and who would be the teacher. The pupil was lead into a small room and strapped into a chair and electrodes were attached. The only other furniture in the room was a small table with a loud speaker and a microphone. This was done in full view of the teacher. The teacher was then lead to other room. In this room were a similar table, loud speaker and microphone, however the table had an electrical panel on it. The panel had a series of switches marked form one volt to 450 volts and a red button that delivered an electric shock to the pupil. The only other furniture was a little table and chair where the person running the experiment wearing a white lab coat sat taking notes. The procedure was explained to the teacher; the teacher was given a stack of cards with the name of five items on each card. The teacher was to read the items to the pupil and the pupil was to repeat the five items. If the pupil provided the wrong answer the teacher would administer and electric shock and flip the switch to the next higher voltage. The experiment proceeded. The pupil was easily able to the repeat the items on the card, at first, however the items became more difficult and the pupil would begin to make mistakes. At the lowest voltages the pupil did not seem to even notice, but after a little while, when the voltage was increased to about four to five volts, the pupil would say that he was feeling the shock. However with increasing voltage the pupil would complain that it was becoming painful. If the teacher questioned the experimenter, the experimenter replied “the experiment requires you continue”. If the teacher continued the pupil soon began crying out in pain with the increasing voltage. Again if the teacher questioned the experimenter, the experimenter would repeat “the experiment requires you continue”. Eventually the pupil would become quite, indicating the pupil had passed out. Again if the teacher questioned the experimenter, the experimenter would repeat “the experiment requires you continue”. How many teachers actually got all the way to the fatal 450 volts, well it was about 60%.

Now of course the experiment was a fake. One volunteer was an actor and the drawing of the straw was rigged so the actor was always selected as the pupil. The electrical panel was a fake and the electrodes connected to the pupil were fakes as well. However the teacher did not know this and years later several teachers were contacted and they were still very upset about the whole experience, they reported difficulty in sleeping and other trauma symptoms. Today the experiment would be unethical, because of the psychological pressure it placed on the volunteers. However, the fact remains that within about 30 to 45 minutes after walking off the street, and with minimal encouragement, 60% of the teachers were delivering a fatal electric shock.

Milgram was interested in how people were influenced by authority; however it also shows how easily people can be influenced by outside forces. If people lacked the reserve not to electrocute the poor pupil, how are people going to resist the myriad of daily pressures pulling them in all different directions. In terms of health and fitness, how are people going to resist that extra piece of cake or wine over lunch. Personal trainers should always be aware of the social pressures placed on people who are trying to improve their fitness levels. In other blogs I have written about how goal setting is vital in fitness regimes.