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Stanley Milgram (August 15, 1933 - December 20, 1984)
was a Yale University psychologist who conducted the Small
world experiment (the source of the six degrees
of separation concept) and the Milgram experiment on
obedience to authority.
Although one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, he never took a psychology course as an undergraduate at
Queens College, New York, where he earned his
Bachelor's degree in Political Science in 1954. He applied to a PhD program in social psychology at Harvard
University and was initially rejected due to lack of psychology background. He was accepted in 1954 after taking six courses
in psychology, and graduated with the Ph.D. in 1960. Milgram's mentor at Harvard was the
psychologist Solomon Asch. Milgram died in 1984 in the city of his birth, New York, at the young age of 51 of a heart attack.
Obedience to authority
In 1962, APA put his membership in suspension due to questions about the ethics of his
experiments. His controversial Milgram experiments came to
light in 1963. In 1974, Milgram published
Obedience to Authority and was awarded the annual social psychology award by the AAAS
(mostly for his work over the social aspects of obedience). He used his models to explain the My Lai massacre (including authority training in the military, depersonalizing the "enemy" through
race and cultural differences, etc.). In 1976, CBS
presented a movie about obedience experiments: The Tenth Level with William Shatner
as Stephen Hunter, a Milgram-like scientist. Milgram was a consultant for the film.
Small world
The six degrees of separation concept
originates from Milgram's small world experiment in
1967 that tracked chains of acquaintances in the US.
See also
References
- Milgram, Stanley. "The Small World Problem ". Psychology Today, May 1967. pp 60 - 67
- Milgram, S. (1974), Obedience to Authority; An Experimental View ISBN 006131983X
- Milgram, S. (1974), "The Perils of Obedience" , Harper's Magazine
- Abridged and adapted from Obedience to Authority
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