Q 01/05

Stanley Milgram sent his students onto the New York subway in the 1970s to ask strangers for what?

A) Their seat

B) Their newspaper

C) Spare change

D) Their umbrella

Answer · why

A) Their seat

Their seat was all they asked for, with no reason given, and about two-thirds of riders stood up or slid over. The idea came from his mother-in-law, w...

Q 02/05

Stanley Milgram's small-world study, passing folders between strangers by mail, is tied to which famous phrase?

A) The tragedy of the commons

B) The butterfly effect

C) Six degrees of separation

D) The strength of weak ties

Answer · why

C) Six degrees of separation

Six degrees of separation is a phrase Milgram himself never used. John Guare's 1990 play made it famous, long after the folders reached their target t...

Q 03/05

Which future psychologist was Stanley Milgram's classmate at James Monroe High School in New York?

A) Albert Bandura

B) Philip Zimbardo

C) Lawrence Kohlberg

D) Leon Festinger

Answer · why

B) Philip Zimbardo

Philip Zimbardo and Milgram were classmates at James Monroe High School. Each grew up to run one of the most notorious studies in psychology, a decade...

Q 04/05

Which Star Trek actor played a professor modeled on Stanley Milgram in the 1976 television film The Tenth Level?

A) Leonard Nimoy

B) George Takei

C) DeForest Kelley

D) William Shatner

Answer · why

D) William Shatner

William Shatner starred as the Milgram-like scientist, with Milgram paid $5,000 as a consultant. Milgram had little say in the script and found the fi...

Q 05/05

To gauge public attitudes without asking anyone, Stanley Milgram left what in public places for strangers to find?

A) Wallets with cash

B) Stamped letters

C) Unsigned petitions

D) Tagged house keys

Answer · why

B) Stamped letters

Stamped letters addressed to different groups were planted around town, and Milgram counted how many strangers mailed them. Most made it to a research...