Milgram’s subjects likely justified shocking by boosting their valuation of science.

Evidence

Specifically, I would expect that Milgram’s subjects, who were implicitly preselected to put a high value on “science,” might have increased the value they placed on science as an important source of discoveries that would help humankind, and perhaps also derogated the intelligence of the individual who received the shocks. In both these ways, inflicting pain on the learner became justified. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3961

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: how perpetrators rationalize harm by elevating their in-group’s mission — the ‘science as sacred purpose’ justification pattern.