"The Perils of Obedience" was written by Stanley Milgram to convey the results of a psychological experiment. Milgram went to great lengths to design an experiment to see if people would disregard their conscience to obey corrupt demands of authority.
             First, two people were chosen to participate in a study of the effects of punishment on memory and learning. One person is the "teacher" while the other is the "learner". The teacher is given a very simple set of instructions. A list of word pairs is to be read aloud. The learner is to recall the second word of the pair from memory when the first is recited. If the learner is incorrect, the learner is given an electric shock with increased intensity as the experiment continues. The label on the shock generator has a voltage from 15 to 450 volts.
             The learner is place in a chair with his arms restrained. The chair is in a separate room than the teacher. The learner isn't really going to receive a shock and he isn't the focus of the experiment. The objective is to see how much pain human beings inflict on another to obey an authority figure.
             Many teachers persisted with the shocks although it was apparent the learner was in excruciating pain. The teacher placed his own feelings aside to obey the authority of the experimenter although he knew he was inflicting severe pain. Milgram concludes that many people have aggressive characteristics although they are not portrayed in daily life. A modest person contains these feelings awaiting release. Milgram also states that many teachers saw themselves as "just doing their job". The obedient teacher saw himself not as a cruel and mean person but simply as "the instrument for carrying out another person's wishes". (326) Milgram gives several examples of the teacher's personas before, during, and after the experiment.
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