Milgram's variation studies (AO1)

Question 1

Define ‘situational factors’.

Answer 1

Influences that occur from the environment and others around you

Question 2

What were the 3 variations of Milgram’s study?

Answer 2

Rundown Office Block

Telephonic Instructions

Ordinary man gives orders

Question 3

What were the aims of the 3 variation studies?

Answer 3

Rundown Office Block: N/A

Telephonic Instructions:
To see whether the presence/proximity of the authority figure has an effect on obedience rates

Ordinary man gives orders:
To see if it is easier to resist the orders from an ordinary man dressed in normal clothes rather than an experimenter in a white coat

Question 4

What were the procedures for the 3 variation studies?

Answer 4

Rundown Office Block:
Location was changed to a small commercial office in Bridgeport - three-room office suite in a sparsley furnished run-down commerical building

Telephonic Instructions:
Telephonic instructions were given to participants to issue the electric shocks

Ordinary man gives orders:
The ordinary man dressed in normal clothes instructed the participant to give the electric shocks

Question 5

What were the results of the 3 variation studies?

Answer 5

Rundown Office Block: 47.5%

Telephonic Instructions: 22.5%

Ordinary man gives orders: 20%

Question 6

What were the conclusions of the 3 variation studies?

Answer 6

Rundown Office Block:
Easier for participants to dissent - not convinced by credibility of experiment or its benefit to the scientific community

Telephonic Instructions:
A decrease in proximity to the authority figure decreases obedience levels

Ordinary man gives orders:
Authority figures are perceived to be more credible if they wear a uniform

Question 7

Give the 2 strengths of the variation studies.

Answer 7

Same standardised procedure as the original - easily replicable

High internal validity - only 1 variable changed so cause and effect can be established

Question 8

Give the unique strength to Milgram’s ‘Ordinary man gives orders’ study.

Answer 8

Increased internal validity - participants believed the ordinary man was real because they saw him drawing straws with the victim

Question 9

Give the 2 weaknesses of the variation studies.

Answer 9

Low ecological validity - lab setting still used even in rundown office block

Low task validity - nature of task is not reflective of everyday life so mundane realism is low