Milgrams Variation Studies

Question 1

ordinary man gives orders variation
aim, procedure and results.

how can comparisons be made?

Answer 1

aim: to see if obedience would change depending on the uniform of the person.

procedure: follows the same setup as the baseline but the experimenter does not say what shocks are administered. rigged phone call takes place and experimenter tells participant to carry on with experiment. confederate then has the idea to increase the shock level one step each time the learner makes a mistake and insists this happens.

results: he found that there was a sharp drop in obedience- 16/20 not continuing to the end.

comparisons can be made as procedure was similar to original but there’s still a lot of authority in the situation.

Question 2

telephone instructions variation
aim, procedure and results.

Answer 2

aim: to see if obedience can change with proximity

procedure: after the experimenter gave the initial instructions he left the lab and gave his orders by phone, when they left, participants tended to display an interesting form of behaviour that had not occurred when the experimenter was there.

results: several participants administered lower shocks then they were told to do as it was easier to spread false information to the experimenter. obedience rates fell to only 9/40 complying to the 450 volts.

Question 3

rundown office block
aim, procedure and results

Answer 3

aim: the effectiveness of the experimenters commands may depend on the institutional context in which they are issues.

procedure: experimental conditions were replicated without any visible ties to the university. used Bridgeport so there was no connection to the university. if participants questioned location they were told that it was a private firm conducting research for industry.

results: results at Bridgeport were slightly lower (48%) compared tot he baseline (65%) with 2 participants refusing to give even the lowest shock of 15 volts.