Milgram (1963) Behavioural Study of Obedience

Question 1

Define obedience

Answer 1

Complying with the demands of others, particularly those in positions of authority.

Question 2

What was the aim of Milgrams study?

Answer 2

To investigate what level of obedience would be shown when participants were told by an authority figure to administer electric shocks to another person.

Question 3

What was the sample like in Milgrams study?

Answer 3

40 males age between 20 and 50.

Recruited by a newspaper and direct mail advertisement.

Question 4

How was the role of participants determined in Milgrams study?

Answer 4

Each participant would draw a slip of paper from a hat to determine which role he would play

The draw was rigged and the participant was always the teacher and the confederate (Mr.Wallace) was always the learner.

Question 5

Describe the shock generator in Milgrams study

Answer 5

Milgram created a phoney ‘shock generator’

The shock generator had 30 switches marked clearly in 15 volt increasments from 15 to 450 volts.

Question 6

Describe the setup of the experiment in Milgrams study

Answer 6

The participant was seated in an adjacent room in front of the shock generator and asked to read a series of word pairs to the learner.

Participant can’t see the confederate.

The experimenter was in the room with the participant.

Question 7

Describe the word list in Milgrams study

Answer 7

The learner was asked to learn the pairs and was then tested by giving him one word in a pair along with four other words.

Question 8

Describe the process of correct and incorrect answers in Milgrams study

Answer 8

If the answer was correct the participant would move onto the next word.

If it was wrong the participant would tell them the correct answer and the punishment they were going to receive.

They went from 15 to 450 volts up in 15 volts.

Question 9

What happened when the participant asked for advice in Milgrams study?

Answer 9

The experimenter would give the participants encouragement to continue using standardised prods e.g. “please continue”, “the experiment requires that you continue”

Question 10

Describe the results of the study in Milgrams study

Answer 10

All 40 participants obeyed the experimenter and delivered shocks up to 300 volts.

65% of participants delivered shocks up to the maximum 450 volts

Question 11

What was the conclusion of Milgrams study?

Answer 11

The participants obeyed because of the situation.

Participants believed experiment was for a worthy purpose (took place at Yale)

They believed the victim had volunteered to be in the study and therefore has an obligation to take part.

Question 12

What is an ethnocentric bias sample?

Answer 12

When all the participants are from the same cultural background so it’s not representative of individuals from other cultural backgrounds.

Question 13

What is an androcentric bias sample?

Answer 13

When only male participants are used in an experiment.

Danger of androcentrism.

Question 14

What were the strengths of Milgrams study?

Answer 14

High control - high internal validity

Standardised procedure - reliable

Quantitative data - objective

Qualitative data - valid

No ethical guidelines to breach

Question 15

What were the weaknesses of Milgrams study?

Answer 15

Unrepresentative sample

Low ecological validity

Ethics - right to withdraw, deception

Question 16

What is moral strain?

Answer 16

A negative feeling caused by doing something we believe to be morally wrong but feel compelled to do because of the social situation.

Question 17

Why is a high control a strength of Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 17

Everything in the procedure was kept constant for every participant

Confounding variables were avoided by conducting the procedure in an artificial setting

Question 18

Why is standardised procedure a strength of Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 18

Because it used standardised procedure for all participants it is possible to repeat the experiment which makes it more reliable

Question 19

Why Is both quantitative and qualitative data a strength of Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 19

As both types of data were collected it can be argued to increases the validity of the study

Quantitative - level of shocks administered
Qualitative - provided through interviews and observations

Question 20

Why is an unrepresentative sample a weakness of Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 20

Milgram chose to study only American men (thus deliberately ethnocentric) but from a variety of backgrounds and different ages

Could be argued that by using men this study produced a samples that was biased and didn’t reflect the general population

Question 21

Why is low ecological validity a weakness of Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 21

Can be argued Milgrams study was low in ecological validity that is not true to life

Have to be careful generalising findings to real life situations as people may act differently to an authority figure in real life

Question 22

Why is ethics a weakness of Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 22

Participants were deceived as to the exact nature of the study and by making them believe they were administering real electric shocks to a real participant