“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinions, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum... . " - Noam Chomsky, The Common Good "Disobedience is the true foundation of freedom. The obedient must be slaves. »― Henry David ThoreauIn the early 1960s, Stanley Milgram (1963) conducted an experiment called the Behavioral Obedience Study to measure the compliance levels of test subjects asked to administer punishments to learners. The experiment had surprising results. Objective of the research. Stanley Milgram's (1963) behavioral study of obedience measured the extent to which an ordinary subject would go beyond his or her basic moral character to comply with instructions from authority to punish another person, and when they refuse to obey and end their participation. The subjects and methods used. Forty ordinary male citizens of New Haven and surrounding areas of New England, representing several professions, between the ages of twenty and fifty, were solicited and recruited under the premise of participating in a study on "memory and learning." . Each subject received $4.50 compensation for their participation and was informed that the payment was for their participation in the Yale University laboratory and that, regardless of the outcome, the payment was theirs. The missions controlled were an experimenter/authority figure, represented by a thirty-one-year-old man, impassive and somewhat stern, and the victim, represented by a forty-seven-year-old man, mild-mannered and friendly. Through trick drawings, uncontrolled homework or subjects were always selected as teachers (Milgram, 1963). To justify the administration of electrical punishments, the topics were...... middle of paper ...... there are many benefits, and when properly used can maintain order, develop good habits, develop strong moral character and encourage positive behavior. Works Cited Mankiewicz, J. (2009, July 25). Kidnapped Heiress: The Patty Hearst Story. Internet. May 28, 2015. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32089504/ns/dateline_nbc-newsmakers/t/kidnapped-heiress-patty-hearst-story/#.VXjUCPlVhBcMilgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), 371 – 378. Web. June 3, 2015. http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/social_dilemmas/fall/Readings/Week_06/milgram.pdfObedience. (nd). Dictionary.com full version. Retrieved from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Obedience?s=tThoreau, HD (1849). Civil disobedience - part 2 of 3. Web. June 1, 2015.http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html