Final answer:
Stanley Milgram's study demonstrated people's strong tendency to follow authority, showing that nearly two-thirds of subjects were willing to administer severe shocks when instructed. The study has had a profound impact on our understanding of authority and raised important ethical issues.
Step-by-step explanation:
Stanley Milgram's study on obedience to authority is a landmark in the field of social psychology. In this controversial experiment conducted in 1961, Milgram aimed to understand the extent of people's willingness to obey authoritative figures, even when their orders contradict the participants' moral beliefs. The experiment revealed that a significant majority of the subjects—a notable nearly two-thirds—were willing to administer what they believed were lethal electric shocks to another person, all under the command of an authority figure. This finding was significant, reflecting on human behavior and obedience, and had wide-ranging implications for understanding the actions of individuals during historical events such as the Holocaust.
While the Milgram experiment was groundbreaking, it also raised ethical concerns about the psychological harm to the participants, who were led to believe they were causing real pain to others. Milgram's work continues to be an important reference in discussions on the ethical standards in psychological research and the complex dynamics of authority and obedience.
In the context of the question related to Milgram's findings, the correct answer to the multiple-choice question is b. 2/3, indicating that nearly two-thirds of the subjects in Milgram's study were prepared to administer what they thought were deadly shocks when directed by an authority figure.