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Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View

Stanley Milgram's 1974 book about his obedience experiments, in which volunteers were told to give electric shocks to a learner. Paired with his own 1963 journal report of the procedure.

Stanley Milgram · 1974. First published in 1974 (Harper and Row, with a London edition from Tavistock noted in a library record). Milgram's first journal report of the obedience procedure appeared in 1963 and is a separate publication from this book. Chronology section: 1970 to 1989.

Academic: Scholarly monographPrimary scholarshipSocial influenceTherapy & ethics

Author and origin
Stanley Milgram (United States)Original language: English. First published in 1974 (Harper and Row, with a London edition from Tavistock noted in a library record). Milgram's first journal report of the obedience procedure appeared in 1963 and is a separate publication from this book.
Genre and form
Academic (Scholarly monograph)Foundational scholarly monographs, experimental treatises, and theoretical volumes written for researchers and students.
Pairing and evidence
Primary scholarshipA foundational academic book or treatise. Each profile states what was inspected and whether a research paper is paired.
Sources inspected
3 text/abstract inspected, 0 metadata checked (of 3)2 with the primary text or archive/edition record checked, 1 with an indexed abstract read, 0 with bibliographic metadata checked, 0 not verified.

Direct empirical or theoretical sourcePaired academic work

Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525

Source independence: Author's own research source.

How it connects: Milgram's own 1963 journal report of the shock-generator procedure that his 1974 book discusses. Same author, not an independent replication.

Exact claim scope: Scoped to the indexed abstract (OpenAlex, an incomplete record) and bibliographic data from Europe PMC and Crossref. The full article was not read.

The work and edition history

Obedience to Authority appeared in 1974, more than ten years after Milgram's first journal article on the procedure. Library records list Harper and Row and a Tavistock edition in London, and later paperbacks under other imprints. The description of the book used here comes from a catalog record, not from the text.

Psychological reading

The catalog description poses the book's question: volunteers are instructed by an experimenter to give an electric shock each time a learner makes a mistake, and the study is said to go some way toward explaining how ordinary people can commit horrific acts under a malevolent authority. Questions to bring: Which features of the setup, such as the experimenter's authority, the step-by-step rise in severity, or the learner's role, might matter for whether a person continues? What is lost when a laboratory procedure stands in for obedience elsewhere? This is an account of one experimental procedure and should not be read as a measure of any person's character.

Why it earns inclusion

The studies are a standard case in discussions of obedience and of research ethics. Reading the author's book beside his first report shows how the same procedure is first presented as a result and later discussed at book length.

Academic pairing and claim scope

Paired with Milgram's own 1963 article, "Behavioral Study of Obedience," in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Its indexed abstract describes naive participants ordered to give a victim increasingly severe shocks on a 30-switch generator, with the victim a confederate, and reports that 26 participants obeyed fully and 14 broke off at some point. It also reports marked nervous tension in some participants. Because the same author wrote both, this is not independent evidence or a replication.

Limits and controversies

The book's premise comes from catalog records and a description, and the 1974 text was not read, so its theory of obedience and its experimental variations are not described. The 1963 abstract reports one procedure and its outcomes. It does not show what the outcomes mean outside the laboratory, and no replication or critique was inspected. The abstract record read was incomplete, so only the points listed above are reported.

Evidence behind the claims

  • Open Library lists 1974 as the first publication year of Obedience to Authority, names Harper and Row among the publishers, and carries a description about volunteers told to give an electric shock each time a learner makes a mistake.

    Publication or textual factSource: [1]Where: Open Library work OL4109720W, first publication year, publisher list and descriptionChecked at archive-page level

  • An Open Library edition record for a Harper Colophon printing carries the note "Also published, London, Tavistock Publications, 1974" and lists a bibliography on pages 213-218.

    Publication or textual factSource: [2]Where: Open Library edition OL20945181M, notes fieldChecked at archive-page level

  • The indexed abstract of Milgram's 1963 article describes participants ordered to give a victim increasingly severe shocks on a 30-switch generator, with the victim a confederate, and reports that 26 participants obeyed fully and 14 broke off at some point, with marked nervous tension in some participants.

    Empirical study findingSource: [3]Where: OpenAlex indexed abstract for DOI 10.1037/h0040525; journal volume 67, issue 4, pages 371-378, October 1963Checked at abstract level

Authors and researchers

  • Stanley Milgram. Social psychologist; author of the 1963 article and the 1974 book.

In the Psy101 course

  • OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 12.4: Conformity, Compliance, and ObedienceChapter 12, Social Psychology. Concept. Suggested conceptual background; a mention of this work in the section has not been verified.Connects to chapter coverage of conformity, compliance and obedience.
  • OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 2.4: EthicsChapter 2, Psychological Research. Ethics and limits. Suggested conceptual background; a mention of this work in the section has not been verified.The 1963 abstract reports marked nervous tension in some participants, which is one reason the procedure is discussed in research ethics.

Educational reading guide only, not clinical diagnosis or treatment guidance. This course map indicates introductory curriculum relevance rather than clinical proof.See the full course map.

Sources and inspection

Of 3 cited sources, 2 had primary text or archive/edition records checked, 1 had an indexed abstract read, and 0 had bibliographic metadata checked (0 unverified). Literary works and memoirs are distinguished from empirical research studies.

  1. [3]
    Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525Journal article. Paired academic research.Indexed abstract readIndexed abstract read on 2026-10-23 through OpenAlex; the abstract appeared incomplete. Europe PMC confirms the bibliographic record (PMID 14049516, pages 371-378) and has no abstract. The full article was not read.
  2. [2]
    Milgram, S. (1974a). Obedience to authority: An experimental view (open library edition record, harper colophon). Open Library (Internet Archive). https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20945181MArchive or library record. Work, edition, or catalog record.Edition, title-page, or archive record checkedOpen Library edition record read on 2026-10-23. No publication date is given on that record.
  3. [1]
    Milgram, S. (1974b). Obedience to authority (open library work record). Open Library (Internet Archive). https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4109720WArchive or library record. Work, edition, or catalog record.Edition, title-page, or archive record checkedOpen Library work record and search results read on 2026-10-23. The description is blurb-style text for an unspecified edition.