10. Milgram (1963) - Social Approach Flashcards
The psychology being investigated in Milgram? (4)
Social pressure —> influence of a person or group of people on another person or group
Obedience —> destructive obedience (threats demands , approval or reward)
Aim of Milgram’s experiment (2)
How obedient individuals would be to orders received from a person in authority
—> especially even when it would result in physical harm to another person (destructive obedience)
Research method and design of Milgram’s experiment (4)
Controlled observation: Lab setting, variables and measurements were controlled.
Every participants went through the same procedure
No control group
How did Milgram measure obedience? (3)
Observation
Quantitative: the highest voltage they went to
Qualitative: participants’ body language and verbal comments made throughout the experiment
Sample in Milgram’s experiment (4)
Volunteer Sample: Newspaper advert
40 men between the ages of 20 and 50 years old
New Haven area of the USA
Different backgrounds and occupations
Set up of Milgram’s experiment (10)
Participant introduced to another man who they believed to be another participant. However he was a confederate who had been trained for the experiment. Both were told they would ‘randomly’ be allocated in roles of ‘teacher’ or ‘learner’. They drew pieces of paper from a hate to determine the roles —> which was fixed so that the participant was allocated ‘teacher.
Participant was taken into another room where the stooge was strapped to a chair and had electrodes atttached to him by the experimenter.
Participant was present with the shock generator which had rows of switches labeled with 15V to 450 V then labeled in ascending order to the final two switches being XXX
Participants were told the shocks were painful but no dangerous. They got an example shock of 45V as demonstration.
Then participants were seated behind a wall so they could not see the stooge but only hear him.
Same experimenter was used for all experiments.
What were the participants in Milgram’s experiment promised with?
$4.50
Where was Milgram’s experiment held? Why? (2)
Yale University in a laboratory —> to make it seem legitimate
What did the experimenters do once Milgramm’s experiment was complete? (3)
Participant was interviewed and the deception was fully explained to them.
Asked to estimate how painful they thought 450V was on scale of 0-14
They also got to meet the learner again to reassure that they were not injured
Results of Milgram’s study (3)
The mean estimate of the 450V shock was 13.42 —> participants believed that they were causing serious pain
Some participants protested at the orders however the verbal prods given by the experimenter persuaded the participants to continue.
—> 100% went up to 300V
Factors that contributed to the high level of obedience recorded in Milgram’s study (3)
- professional environment (uniform)
- been paid to participate
- the verbal prods (seemed professional)
Milgram’s two conclusions from his study (2)
Individuals are far more obedient to authority than expected
2. Even when people are being obedient—> they find it stressful. This is due to a conflict between two important social phenomena: the need to obey those in authority and the need to avoid harming other people
Strengths of Milgram’s experimen t (7)
- Controlled observation: able to control the extraneous variables in the environment eg: the stooge (same every time and knew what to do)
- Standardized: Verbal prods —> same each time which also made it reliable
3.Validity: the design and experiment was realistic —> ensured the participants were convinced - Quantitative data: objective —> easy to compare and reach conclusion overalll about the amount of destructive obedience seen in this study
- Qualitative data: understanding of the tension between wanting to obey orders and own conscience
- Interviews: helped know about participants behaviors
- Debriefed at the end
Weaknesses in Milgram’s experiment + ethics (5)
- Low generalizability: all men, who came from same local area
—> however made sure they were from different backgrounds and age range - Ethics:
—> no infromed consent
—> deception (memory and punishment) , (teacher and learner)
—> Right to withdraw? —> some wanted to stop however the experimenters encouraged them to keep going??
—> Not protected from psychological harm —> not checked on afterwards
Individual and situational explanations consider…
whether the person’s individual characteristics or the conditions of their environment are more influential on levels of obedience
