The milgrim obedience experiment has been held up for generations as an illustration of our willingness to inflict pain under the direction of an authority. The teacher did, however, see the learner at the very beginning of the experiment, seated in the chair in the adjoining room,. So the teacher was under the impression that the learner was definitely connected to that machine. In one variation, the teachers were all women and 65 % went to the maximum voltage. Rates of obedience dropped to about 20%. Some teachers lied about increasing the volt age when they hadn't.