Milgram Study Of Obedience Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is obedience?
A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order
What type of obedience was Milgram interested in?
Destructive obedience where orders are obeyed even though the individual understands the negative consequences
Milgram Aims
There is something different about the ___ ___ which caused their behaviour. He argued ___ have an ___ ___ meaning they are more obedient to ___. This personality type is more likely to be ___ against ___ ___ as a result of ___ __, this would be displaced onto groups such as Jews, black people etc
“Germans are different” hypothesis
There is something different about the German disposition which caused their behaviour. He argued Germans have an authoritarian personality meaning they are more obedient to authority. This personality type is more likely to be prejudiced against minority groups as a result of unconscious hostility, this would be displaced onto groups such as Jews, black people etc
Milgram Methodology
Controlled observation in a lab setting
No IV and DV
Variables were controlled
Milgram Participants
40 males aged between 20-50
Range of jobs and varied education level
Self selected sampling
Milgram Procedure
Participants thought they were taking part in a memory experiment
Took place in a lab at Yale University
The “experimenter” greeted them with another “participant” (both men were actually confederates)
Participants drew slips of paper to decide who would play each role (it was rigged) participant always the teacher, confederate always the learner
Teacher sees the learner strapped into an electric chair
Sat down in front of shock generator, rise in voltage from 15 to 450 volts
Teacher had to read word pairs out and the learner had to pick the right one when given options
If learner got it wrong, teacher would have to administer shocks at an ascending voltage
If teacher hesitated, experimenter said “please continue”
Milgram wanted to know if the teachers would shock the learner, highest level of shock given was recorded, allowed Milgram to put a quantitative value on obedience
Teacher thoroughly debriefed
Milgram Findings
All participants gave a minimum of 300v
12.5% went no further
65% administered the full 450v
Those who did not disobey were “obedient” subjects, those who did disobey were “defiant” subjects
Subjects were observed to “sweat, tremble, stutter, bite their lips, groan”
Full blown uncontrollable seizures for 3 subjects
Milgram Overall conclusions
Ordinary people are shockingly obedient to destructive orders, even when the orders go against their moral beliefs
In certain situations, people would kill a stranger
13 elements of the situation caused people to be highly obedient, including the payment and the experiment taking place at Yale University, which had an “unimpeachable reputation”
Milgram: Factors that contributed to obedience
Location
Perception of legitimate authority
Obligation to participant due to volunteering
Inability to discuss with others during the experiment
S: One limitation is that Milgram study lacks internal validity.
E:
E:
C:
W:
E: This is a weakness because the participants may have not believed that they were giving real shocks to the learner.
E: So, because it seems unreasonable to administer fatal 450v to the learner, the p’s may assume they were not actually being administered, and demand characteristics e.g. ‘please you’ and ‘screw you’ effects may have taken place.
C: However, it was reported that up to 85% of p’s did truly believe they were administering the shocks.
W: Therefore, if p’e were able to guess the aim of the study, their behaviour may change due to demand characteristics. Overall this is a weakness as the internal validity and overall accuracy of the findings must be questioned.
S: One limitation is that Milgram’s study lacks ecological validity
E:
E:
W:
E: The research took place in a laboratory setting
E: In real life, obedience isn’t as overt as this as participants were being tasked to do something they would never be asked to do in a public setting
W: Therefore, they may assume no one is actually on the receiving end of the shock
S: One limitation is that Milgram’s study lacks population validity
E:
E:
C:
W:
E: This is a weakness because the participants were selected through self selected sampling through a newspaper, and they were all males
E: This means that the sample was a niche group of people and cannot be generalised to all of the target population
C: However, in later studies, Milgram found the same rate of obedience in females as well as males, although women reported more stress
W:
Ethical issues
Deception
Right to withdraw
Informed consent
