Stanley Milgram, American psychologist and academic (b. 1933)
Stanley Milgram (August 15, 1933 – December 20, 1984) was an American social psychologist, best known for his controversial experiments on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale.Milgram was influenced by the events of the Holocaust, especially the trial of Adolf Eichmann, in developing the experiment. After earning a PhD in social psychology from Harvard University, he taught at Yale, Harvard, and then for most of his career as a professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, until his death in 1984.
His small-world experiment, while at Harvard, led researchers to analyze the degree of connectedness, including the six degrees of separation concept. Later in his career, Milgram developed a technique for creating interactive hybrid social agents (called cyranoids), which has since been used to explore aspects of social- and self-perception.
He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of social psychology. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Milgram as the 46th-most-cited psychologist of the 20th century.
1984Dec, 20
Stanley Milgram
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Events on 1984
- 7Jan
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). - 5Jun
Indira Gandhi
The Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, orders an attack on the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion. - 4Aug
Burkina Faso
The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso. - 20Sep
Beirut
A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twenty-two people. - 26Sep
Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong
The United Kingdom and China agree to a transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, to take place in 1997.