Milgram and related studies and theories

Question 1

what was the aim of milgram?

Answer 1

milgram wanted to see how obedient ordinary people would be towards an authority figure

Question 2

what was the sample of milgram?

Answer 2

the sample of milgram were recruited through a newspaper advert and consisted of 40 men

Question 3

what happened before the experiment began?

Answer 3

the experimenter introduced the participant to a confederate who was acting as a participant. they were told that one would take on the role of teacher and one would take on the role of learner in a memory experiment.

Question 4

what were the participants told the experiment was about?

Answer 4

the participants were told that the experiment was a learning/memory experiment

Question 5

how were the roles decided in milgrams experiment?

Answer 5

the confederate and partticipant drew lots but this was rigged so that the confederate was always the learner

Question 6

what was the method of the study?

Answer 6

the participant (teacher) was told that they were supposed to administer an electric shock to the learner whenever they got something wrong. every time that the learner made a mistake the level of electricity would increase. The participant was given a small shock of 15V as demonstration. However, the confederate wasnt actually being shocked but instead was pretending to be. the confederate deliberately gave wrong answers so that the participant would be forced to give increasingly larger shocks.§

Question 7

how was the shock apparatus labelled?

Answer 7

15V - 450V with labels such as “danger, severe shock’ on them

Question 8

how did the confederate act while being shocked?

Answer 8

at first he grunted with pain and then as the shocks increased he started shouting in protest and stating that he had a heart condition and therefore couldnt continue and that he refused to take part anymore. after 315V he went silent.

Question 9

what would happen if the participant hesitated or wanted to stop?

Answer 9

the experimenter would give a verbal prod such as “the experiment requires you to continue”

Question 10

what were some weaknesses of the study?

Answer 10

one weakness of the study was that the findings can not be generalised to women and children

lacks ecological validity

the participants volunteered and therefore might have the volunteer personality type and many people w this personality type have the trait of agreeism meaning that they are more likely to obey

the participant was unethical as it violated the ethics of

• freedom to withdraw
• deception
• protection from mental and physical harm

Question 11

what was good about milgram?

Answer 11

used people from different career/socioeconomic background meaning that it can be generalised to them

lab experiment so external variables were controlled

Question 12

what were the results of milgram?

Answer 12

the results were that nobody stopped before 300V and 65% continued up to 450V.

Question 13

what did milgram conclude?

Answer 13

milgram concluded that most people can be highly obedient in social situations.

milgram also concluded that most people will agree an authority figure even if it goes against their morals

in another version of milgram he concluded that location was important as the original study was done in yale and more people conformed than when in a city centre

Question 14

what is the agency theory?

Answer 14

the agency theory states that wether someone obeys an authority figure depends on their mental state

Question 15

when do people enter the agentic state?

Answer 15

people tend to enter the agentic state when they are stressed or under conflict

Question 16

what is the autonomous state?

Answer 16

this is the state of mind you are in most of the time and this is where you view yourself as the authority figure and act based on your own morals and wishes

Question 17

what is the agentic state?

Answer 17

agentic state is when you see another person as the person in power and hand over your moral responsibilities onto them and act based on their wishes

Question 18

why does the agency theory happen?

Answer 18

this is because of the hierarchical systems we are used to where there are both leaders and followers

Question 19

example of agency theory in milgram?

Answer 19

a participant was hesitant and asked the experimenter who would take responsibility if the confederate died and after the experimenter said that he would then the participant continued shocking him

Question 20

what was the procedure of Hofling?

Answer 20

an unknown (fake) doctor named Dr Smith phoned 22 nurses in a hospital and told them to administer twice the amount of a fake drug called astroten to a participant under the name of Mr Jones. the maximum amount was also displayed on the label

Question 21

how many participants in Hofling obeyed?

Answer 21

21 out of 22 nurses obeyed

Question 22

how can Hofling be linked to Milgram?

Answer 22

they both showed high level of obedience towards an authority figure

Hoffling was done in real life and therefore has more ecological validity and supports Milgrams findings

Question 23

Hoffling conclusions

Answer 23

people believe that authority figures know best

Nurses (people) can obey commands that conflict with their own morals or with company procedures depending on situational factors – such as the location (hospital)

Nurses (or people) are likely to obey a doctor who is seen as a senior authority figure - legitimate authority/uniform

There are also individual factors which affect obedience as there was not a 100% obedience rate within nurses (we see this with Milgram too)