... the atrocities committed by the Nazi's during the war wee not the result of an innate character defect solely in the German people; a readiness to obey without question. Milgram advertised for volunteers to be paid $4.50, for their involvement in an experiment on punishing the mind. In fact all the participants were deceived and were being monitored to see if they would carry out unjust orders from a person in authority to inflict pain on another person. The participant always had the teachers' role and the confederate played the part of the learner. His task was to memorise pairs of words. The teachers' role was to administer a shock every time the learner gave a wrong answer. The shocks started at 15 volts and rose in increments of 15 volts to 450v. The participants were told that only up to 300 volts was a safe amount to be administered. ...

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