[raylad]

One question is whether the participants really believed they were giving shocks to the "learners".

In college I participated in a number of psychological studies that were similarly deceptive, where one of the other participants was obviously (to me) an actor, or, sometimes, a pre-recorded video.

At least one of the studies I participated in was quite like the Milgram study described in the article, where I was supposed to punish another participant. It was very obvious to me that this wasn't really happening, so I randomly punished or didn't punish them, and then afterwards told the researcher that I knew it was all fake.

I think many or most other people who saw through the deception probably wouldn't have let the researcher know, because it seemed somehow disrepectful to tell him.

No idea if he used my results or, as he should have done, discarded them.

[xg15]

Yeah, this is an important point. If the main motivation of the subjects would have been to "play along" correctly, then this could also explain the behavior regarding the shocks and "rule breaking". It could also have diminished their empathy for the "students" even more if they realized those were actors anyway.

[sarchertech]

Gina Perry combed through all the available evidence and interviewed some of the participants and came to the conclusion that fewer than half believed it was real.