Milgrams Study

Question 1

Aim of milgrams study

Answer 1

To see if people would obey an unreasonable order (to deliver electric shocks)

Question 2

Method of milgrams study

Answer 2

Fourty males, aged 20-50, volunteered for a study on memory.
Teacher paired with learner

Learner was strapped in a chair and wired with electrodes which would give an electric shock.

Teacher was instructed by the experimenter to give a shock to the learner when they made a mistake.
Experimenter gave prods to continue. Intensity increased from 15 to 450 volts.

Question 3

Results of milgrams study

Answer 3

No participants stopped below 300 volts.

Five participants (12.5%) stopped at 300 volts when the learner pounded on the wall.

65% continued to 450 volts.

Participants showed extreme tension

Question 4

Conclusion of milgrams study

Answer 4

Obedience has little to do with disposition.

Factors in the situation made it difficult to disobey, e.g. The experimenter wearing. A lab coat (authority figure), location (prestigious University), uncertainty (being in a novel situation)