In 1963, Stanley Milgram of Yale University began a series of psychological experiments looking at obedience to authority. Subjects were told to administer electric shocks to people (actually confederates of the experimenter) if they missed questions on a learning test. Milgram found that subjects followed these orders, even to the extent of believing they had killed the person receiving the shocks. Understandably, the subjects were traumatized by this experience.

There is still controversy surrounding the use of deception in research, but the following procedures used by Milgram were clearly unethical and have resulted in stricter guidelines in social science research.

-Subjects were coerced in to continuing in the study even when they wished to withdraw.  
-Subjects were observed to be psychologically distressed because of the procedures, but the investigator did not halt the study to ensure the well-being of the participants.