I have always been struck by the sad irony of the Milgram experiments. Milgram's initial predictions were actually wrong. Likely due to his collaboration with Solomon Asch and his involvement with Asch's research on the influences of social identity and conformity, he thought that Americans would not submit to orders that were contrary to their beliefs or ethics. He thought that Americans would refuse to harm, torture, and kill other people; rather than to comply with an authority that directed them to do so. His initial hypothesis was that the actions of the Nazis during WWII were attributable to a character flaw in the German culture that would not be present in the American culture. As the competent scientist he was, he followed the data and ultimately revised his hypothesis. His classmate, Philip Zimbardo, infamously built upon that work in the Stanford Prison Experiment.
