Milgram Shock and Stanford Prison — what we misunderstand about the most infamous experiments in psychology

What makes people do evil things?

Psychologist Stanley Milgram wanted to understand if people could be led to do awful things, just by being told to do them.

The experiment he would devise to test this would become one of the most infamous examples of unethical studies in the field of psychology: The Milgram Shock Experiment.

But Professor Alex Haslam says that's not the full picture… And the findings are misunderstood.

All In The Mind is ABC RN's weekly podcast looking into the mental universe, the mind, brain and behaviour — everything from addiction to artificial intelligence.

• No. of episodes: 246
• Latest episode: 2025-11-01
• Science Health & Fitness

Where can you listen?