What does Milgram's obedience study demonstrate?

Milgram's obedience study is a significant psychological experiment that illustrates individuals' willingness to obey authority figures, even when such obedience leads to actions that conflict with personal conscience or ethical standards. The experiment, conducted in the early 1960s, involved participants administering what they believed were painful electric shocks to another person (who was actually an actor and not harmed) under the direction of an experimenter dressed in a lab coat, symbolizing authority.

The compelling finding from this study was that a high percentage of participants were willing to follow the experimenter's instructions to continue administering shocks, despite expressing discomfort and moral opposition to the task. This demonstrated a powerful tendency in human behavior: people are often inclined to comply with authority, even when it goes against their moral guidelines or when the consequences could be harmful.

This phenomenon sheds light on the dynamics of obedience within social hierarchies and raises important ethical questions about authority and individual moral responsibility. Thus, the essence of Milgram's findings focuses directly on the impact of authority on individual behavior, which is why the correct answer reflects this central theme of the study.