The Tuskeegee Syphilis Study was an embarrassing event in American history. It’s tempting to blame bad people for their experiences. A more reasonable approach is to use psychology to explain the behavior of those who committed these acts. Milgram conducted one of the most famous experiments in psychology. The electric shock experiment measured people's response to an authority figure and consisted of a subject administering electric shocks of varying degrees to a confederate in another room whenever the confederates answered questions incorrectly. The accomplice acted as if he was shocked to make the subject believe that the electric shocks were real when in reality they were not. The researcher asked the subject to increase the intensity of the shock each time the confederate responded incorrectly. The researcher would firmly ask the subject to continue the shocks despite the confederates begging the subjects to stop the shocks. The intensity varied from a small shock to a fatal electric shock. Although some subjects stopped shocking after listening to the confederates' screams, (%) of subjects continued to shock the confederates until reaching lethal shock intensity, following the researcher's orders. This research proved that obedience, despite dire consequences, could occur when requested by an authority figure. Milgram's study of obedience came about because many Nazis rationalized their discriminatory actions against Jews during World War II by stating that they were following orders. A similar situation could have occurred in the syphilis study. The doctors working under the direction of the researchers continued the study knowing that the middle of paper...... llly compared to whites. The initial stereotype, which may have begun when Africans were first brought to America as slaves, may have been the reason why local doctors were able to justify their lack of treatment for these people despite the consequences of their inaction. better by avoiding the fundamental attribution error of assuming that people commit evil acts because they are evil. Through the concepts of reinforcement and stereotyping and the studies of Milgram and Bandura et al., psychology has helped to explain, in a reasonable manner, how a horrific event such as the Tuskeegee syphilis study could have occurred. While these explanations do not remove any personal responsibility from the individuals participating in the study, they provide an informed way of explaining the behavior of these individuals.JOHNNY NUEZ