Stanley Milgram conducted his famous experiment in 1961 and proved that people have a tendency to do evil things when being given orders. His experiment was conducted by putting people in the position to punish a student every time he gave a wrong answer.

 The punishment was in the form of electrical shocks, which were increased every time the student answered incorrectly. Of course, it was all staged, and no electrical shocks were ever issued, the screams being pre-recorded. The experiment showed that a large majority of people went on punishing the student because they were asked to, they were following orders. They followed the orders even when the screams of the student were unbearable.

A study conducted in 2006 tried remaking the 1961 experimenting, scientists wondering if anything changed in people’s perception of torturing another. The results clearly showed that the answer is “no.” There is just something about authority that makes people act on command and makes them lose any sight of common sense. Milgram’s experiment was conducted mainly in the same conditions, with just a few things being changed.

 People were checked not to have any knowledge of psychology and they were told they can leave whenever they want. The electrical shocks were, like in the original experiment, applied progressively.

In the latest study, 70% of 40 people were willing to continue shocking the “student” after the 160 volts threshold. In Milgram’s study, 80, 2% of the participants were willing to go all the way. The difference in statistically insignificant, and shows that today people are very similar, in the way they think, with the ones living in 1961.