Darren Brown is essentially replicating Stanley Milgram’s original experiment under modern day circumstances. True False
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer: True
Explanation:
Derren Brown, a British psychological illusionist, has conducted televised experiments that closely mirror the famous Stanley Milgram obedience study from the 1960s. Milgram’s original experiment aimed to understand obedience to authority by testing whether ordinary individuals would administer increasingly painful electric shocks to another person simply because an authority figure told them to. Milgram found that a significant number of participants were willing to obey authority even when it meant harming someone else.
In his 2016 program “Derren Brown: The Push”, Brown replicates many of the core psychological elements of Milgram’s experiment—albeit in a more complex, ethically modern, and dramatized format. His goal was to explore how social pressure and authority can push people to commit acts they would normally consider unthinkable, including pushing someone off a building (albeit staged). While no one was actually harmed, the show carefully set up scenarios that involved increasing levels of moral compromise, peer pressure, and authoritative instruction.
Though Brown’s experiment differs from Milgram’s in execution—it uses actors, hidden cameras, and scripted events—it preserves the core psychological concept: the power of authority and social influence over individual decision-making. The experiment culminates in a dramatic moment where the participant must decide whether or not to push someone (a stunt actor) off a rooftop under pressure.
Modern ethical standards in psychology would prohibit a direct replication of Milgram’s experiment due to the emotional stress placed on participants. However, Brown’s work serves as a modern equivalent in the realm of entertainment and public education, carefully balancing psychological exploration with ethical boundaries.
Thus, the statement that “Derren Brown is essentially replicating Stanley Milgram’s original experiment under modern-day circumstances” is True—because while the context and presentation differ, the psychological foundations and objectives remain strikingly similar.