and leadership potential. Interviewers even used a checklist of desirable physical characteristics as part of the selection process. Freshmen entering Yale as late as 1965 were still measured, weighed, and photographed naked as part of their induction process. 6
Few Jewish men would have been among these freshmen. Since the mid-1920s, Yale and Harvard, both located in areas with large numbers of Jewish immigrants, had limited the intake of Jewish students by imposing a 10 percent quota. This was relaxed in late 1961, a year after Milgram arrived at Yale, in recognition of the fact that the exclusion of Jewish applicants was at the expense of intellectual excellence. But at the time of Milgram’s experiment, they still made up only 15 percent of Yale freshmen, although there were Jewish staff onthe teaching faculty, including in the psychology department where Milgram worked. 7
And there would have been few, if any, women in evidence. It wasn’t until 1969 that Yale admitted women as undergraduates. Female graduate students had been admitted since 1892, but numbers were small. The largest number of female students was probably at Yale School of Nursing, which was established in 1923 (with a female dean), but was located two miles from the main campus. Few of the staff were women—the first woman to receive tenure had been awarded it only in 1952. And while half of the librarians were women, some libraries were still off-limits to female students until as late as 1963. 8
The women arriving for their appointments in Milgram’s lab would have left behind the buzzing, noisy streets of New Haven, the demands of work and marriage and perhaps motherhood, to enter another world—a masculine world of wealth and power. A world that would have made them look around and feel the privilege of being there.
Condition 20, the variation in which Hannah had taken part, was notable not just because the subjects were female, but also because it was the first variation in which subjects were told of the hoax. 9 It’s not clear why Milgram introduced debriefing at this point. After all, he was still trying to recruit subjects. Clearly, secrecy was still important: he wouldn’t have wanted news of the experiment to spread. In fact, Williams can be heard telling women at the end of the experiment to keep what he’s told them secret, even though “we know it makes a good story to tell.” 10
Perhaps Milgram had become aware of the gathering chorus of concern about the perceived cruelty of the experiment. His research had been able to flourish in a relatively unsupervised environment. Linsly-Chittenden Hall was blocks from the psychology department, and the experiments were conducted largely in the evenings and on weekends. Milgram was slow to discuss his results with his mentors and, on at least one occasion, refused to discuss it with colleagues while it was in progress. 11 It’s likely that subjects’ complaints to Yale had led to questions about what the young assistant professor wasdoing, and Milgram would have been anxious to head off further complaints.
Milgram recruited forty women for the experiment, which followed the heart-attack script he had used in conditions 5 and 6. Each believed, as previous participants had, that they were being recruited for an experiment about memory and learning. As he did for all other subjects, Milgram kept a file on each woman. If she were married, the folder also included a summary of her husband’s details, including his name, age, occupation, and educational level. A complete file contained anything from ten to fifteen pages. All forty files in the archives have had the woman’s name blacked out, as with all subject files that have been sanitized for public viewing.
It is clear from the files that the women volunteered for a range of reasons. Some were interested because it was Yale; others came to learn something new. One attended to test whether the shock treatment she’d had in a
Few Jewish men would have been among these freshmen. Since the mid-1920s, Yale and Harvard, both located in areas with large numbers of Jewish immigrants, had limited the intake of Jewish students by imposing a 10 percent quota. This was relaxed in late 1961, a year after Milgram arrived at Yale, in recognition of the fact that the exclusion of Jewish applicants was at the expense of intellectual excellence. But at the time of Milgram’s experiment, they still made up only 15 percent of Yale freshmen, although there were Jewish staff onthe teaching faculty, including in the psychology department where Milgram worked. 7
And there would have been few, if any, women in evidence. It wasn’t until 1969 that Yale admitted women as undergraduates. Female graduate students had been admitted since 1892, but numbers were small. The largest number of female students was probably at Yale School of Nursing, which was established in 1923 (with a female dean), but was located two miles from the main campus. Few of the staff were women—the first woman to receive tenure had been awarded it only in 1952. And while half of the librarians were women, some libraries were still off-limits to female students until as late as 1963. 8
The women arriving for their appointments in Milgram’s lab would have left behind the buzzing, noisy streets of New Haven, the demands of work and marriage and perhaps motherhood, to enter another world—a masculine world of wealth and power. A world that would have made them look around and feel the privilege of being there.
Condition 20, the variation in which Hannah had taken part, was notable not just because the subjects were female, but also because it was the first variation in which subjects were told of the hoax. 9 It’s not clear why Milgram introduced debriefing at this point. After all, he was still trying to recruit subjects. Clearly, secrecy was still important: he wouldn’t have wanted news of the experiment to spread. In fact, Williams can be heard telling women at the end of the experiment to keep what he’s told them secret, even though “we know it makes a good story to tell.” 10
Perhaps Milgram had become aware of the gathering chorus of concern about the perceived cruelty of the experiment. His research had been able to flourish in a relatively unsupervised environment. Linsly-Chittenden Hall was blocks from the psychology department, and the experiments were conducted largely in the evenings and on weekends. Milgram was slow to discuss his results with his mentors and, on at least one occasion, refused to discuss it with colleagues while it was in progress. 11 It’s likely that subjects’ complaints to Yale had led to questions about what the young assistant professor wasdoing, and Milgram would have been anxious to head off further complaints.
Milgram recruited forty women for the experiment, which followed the heart-attack script he had used in conditions 5 and 6. Each believed, as previous participants had, that they were being recruited for an experiment about memory and learning. As he did for all other subjects, Milgram kept a file on each woman. If she were married, the folder also included a summary of her husband’s details, including his name, age, occupation, and educational level. A complete file contained anything from ten to fifteen pages. All forty files in the archives have had the woman’s name blacked out, as with all subject files that have been sanitized for public viewing.
It is clear from the files that the women volunteered for a range of reasons. Some were interested because it was Yale; others came to learn something new. One attended to test whether the shock treatment she’d had in a
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