Yale Conference on Milgram’s Legacy
Reading the new issue of Journal of Social Issues devoted to Stanley Milgram’s ‘Obedience to Authority’, I recalled that around this time last year (October 2013) I participated in a ‘Conference on the Legacy of Stanley Milgram’ held at Yale Law School and organised by Tom Tyler. Fellow presenters included Milgram’s biographer, Tom Blass, Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher. It was an inspiring event, with much debate. Alex, Steve and I have been collaborating on a documentary Shock Room that restages and reinterprets Milgram’s dramatic experiment, questioning whether we are really programmed to obey. More very soon…
At the conference, I was introduced to the work of psychologist Saul Kassin who gave a fascinating presentation about the power of situation in extracting false confessions. Like Stanley Milgram, Kassin and his colleagues go to a great deal of trouble to create the right environment for their experiments, conducting much of their research in a Psycho-legal Laboratory containing a mock courtroom complete with a judge’s bench, witness stand, podium, and seating area for a jury. Staged trials or testimony are recorded with videotape cameras and microphones built into the ceiling and walls.
Kathryn Millard 