contemporary study (Berger 2009)

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

to see if situational factors would still affect obedience to an authority figure 46 years after milgrams original experiment

Question 2

procedure

Answer 2

70 ppants (29 m 49f) all recruited via volunteer sample, before the experiment began the ppants went through multiple stages of screening where they were asked if they had taken psychology in college before, if they were dealing with any mental health problems, if the answer to any of these questions was yes they were removed from the study. finally the remaining ppants were all individual assessed by a clinical psychologist to see if they may be negatively impacted by the study. once the experiment began the ppant was always assigned the role of teacher in a rigged draw and told to ask the learner various questions, administering an electric shock each time they got a q wrong, the electric shocks increased by 15v each time with a maximum v of 450v once the ppants reached 150v the experiment was stopped and they were immediately debriefed

Question 3

findings

Answer 3

70% obedience rate
little to no difference between genders

Question 4

conclusion

Answer 4

the passage of time and changes in culture have not impacted obedience levels, social situation is a powerful determinant of human behaviour

Question 5

:( mundane realism

Answer 5

the ppants were told by a clinical psychologist to administer an electric shock to another person for getting an answer wrong, this is not an everyday task for the ppants, T/F cannot be sure behaviour is naturally occurring and cannot be generalised to everyday obedience

Question 6

:( ecological validity

Answer 6

the experiment took place in the highly controlled setting of Santa Clara university which is not an everyday setting for the ppants. T/F cannot be sure the obedience is naturally occurring and cannot be generalised to everyday obedience

Question 7

:) standardised procedure

Answer 7

all ppants experienced the same recruitment process, volunteer sample, the same verbal prods, the same psychological evaluation. T/F the study is easily replicable to establish similar obedience findings

Question 8

high internal validity

Answer 8

the experiment was conducted in the highly controlled setting of Santa Clara university where the researcher had control of any externes variables T/F we can be sure iv is causing the change in dv and cause and effect can be established for the obedience findings