Constructions of the Obedience Experiments: A Focus Upon Domains of Relevance

The significance of the Milgram obedience experiments resides inevitably in the constructions of these studies—in the meaning and interpretations that this research holds for students and researchers. This paper reviews these constructions, with an emphasis upon the domains of relevance that have been associated with the obedience experiments. Considered first are issues bearing on the internal validity of the obedience paradigm. A brief historical excursion then examines Hannah Arendt's thesis of the “banality of evil,” a thesis with a powerful and controversial legacy of its own. To understand what those who are encountering the Milgram experiments for the first time are learning, I consider next the manner in which the ecological validity of the obedience research is discussed in contemporary texts. The paper concludes with a review of recent conceptual analyses of evil from the perspective of the obedience experiments.