Obedience

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

A form of social influence, in which an individual follows a direct order

Question 2

What did Milgram research and why?

Answer 2

Obedience levels. Influenced by finding an answer to why high proportions of German population obeyed Hitler (WW2)

Question 3

What happened in Milgram’s baseline procedure?

Answer 3

• 40 American men volunteered
• Participants (teacher) paired with confederate (learner)
• Learner to remember word pairs
• Teacher shocked learner for every wrong answer

Question 4

What were the findings of Milgram’s study?

Answer 4

• All continued to 300V
• 12.5% stopped at 300V
• 65% continued to 450V
• Participants showed signs of mental distress (sweat, seizure)

Question 5

What did psychology students predict about findings?

Answer 5

14 students predicted results:
- Less than 3% would continue to 450V

Question 6

What percentage was happy to have participated?

Answer 6

84% of participants

Question 7

What are the strengths of Milgram’s study?

Answer 7

• Research support (Game of Death)
• Replication (Sheridan and King)

Question 8

What are the limitations of Milgram’s study?

Answer 8

• Low internal validity/lack of realism
• Alternative interpretation
• Ethical issues

Question 9

STRENGTH-
What research support is there to explain obedience?

Answer 9

• Game of death (Jeu de la Mort)- Participants paid to give (fake) electric shocks to other participants (confederates). 80% delivered max shocks- 460V. Behaviour almost identical to that of Milgram’s study (nail biting, nervous laughter, etc).

Question 10

LIMITATION-
Why does Milgram’s obedience study have low internal validity/lacks realism?

Answer 10

• 75% of participants believed the shocks were real
• Orne and Holland- ‘play-acting’
• Perry confirms this- listened to tapes of study, and said 1/2 believed shocks were real- demand characteristics

Question 11

STRENGTH-
What evidence is there for replicated findings of Milgram’s study?

Answer 11

• Sheridan and King- participant gave shocks to a puppy (in distress). 54% of men continued, 100% of women continued. Show a lack of demand characteristics

Question 12

LIMITATION-
What is the alternative explanation for obedience?

Answer 12

• Haslam et al- Milgram’s participants obeyed when given first 3 prods, but on 4th prod, everyone disobeyed. SIT- participants only obeyed when they identified with the scientific aim of the study. SIT= more valid

Question 13

LIMITATION-
What were the ethical issues with Milgram’s study?

Answer 13

• Participants were deceived- believed role allocation was random, shocks were real, confederate was real. Milgram debriefed participants. BUT, Baumrind criticised the deception- can have serious consequences