Final answer:
In the Milgram obedience studies, participants were ordered to deliver electric shocks to learners for incorrect answers, revealing that about two-thirds would obey authority to administer potentially lethal shocks, which led to major changes in ethical research standards.
Step-by-step explanation:
Participants in the Milgram obedience studies were ordered to deliver electric shocks to a learner for giving incorrect answers. Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, conducted this controversial experiment to observe the extent of people's willingness to comply with an authority figure, even when that involves performing actions against their conscience. The experiment revealed that a significant majority, approximately two-thirds, of the participants were willing to administer shocks they believed could be lethal when instructed by a person in a position of authority. This striking result shed light on the human propensity to obey authority at great cost to others.
Several variations of the original experiment indicated that obedience decreased when either the humanity of the suffering individual was made more salient or the authority of the experimenter was diminished. For instance, when the teacher and learner were in the same room, fewer participants chose to administer the highest level of shock. The experiment's outcomes were pivotal in the development of current ethical standards for psychological research, which now discourage deception and mandate informed consent.