obedience Flashcards
(19 cards)
what is obedience
someone acts in response to an order from an authority figure.
what was Milgram’s study looking at
obedience
what was the aim of Milgram’s study
to investigate how far people will go in obeying an authority figure
who were the participants of Milgram’s study
40 American males aged 20-50
how did Milgram get his participants
advertising in a newspaper and paying them $4.50
what did the participants think they were taking part in
an experiment on learning
what was the procedure of Milgram’s study
the location was at Yale university. They were introduced to ‘Mr Wallace’ who always drew the learner and the participant always drew the teacher. Mr Wallace was strapped into a chair with electrodes attached to him,
were shocks actually given to Mr Wallace
NO
the teacher was always the learner where were they taken
the teacher was taken into another room where there was a generator with a row of 30 switches ranging from 15 to 450 v and they were marked with descriptions of each level of shock
what happened if the participant asked to stop
verbal prods were told to them to persuade them to keep going for example, please continue and you have no other choice you must go on
what were the finding of Milgram’s study
participants demonstrated signs of extreme stress
sweats, trembles, bit there lips
3 had full blown uncontrollable seizures
65% continued to 450V
100% of people gave shocks to 300V
whats the conclusion of Milgram’s study
this study shows how obedient people are to authority figures, even if it is causing them huge amounts of stress
what are the evaluation points of Milgram’s study
high levels of control
lacking internal validity
lacks ecological validity
unethical
lacks generalisability
explain the evaluation of high levels of control for Milgram’s study
this is a key strength because it allows replication and therefore checks reliability. the procedure is standardised this is a strength because his study has been replicated many times to test the reliability of the of the findings
explain the evaluation of lacking internal validity for Milgram’s study
Orne and Holland criticised the findings of of Milgram’s study, This is because he believes the participates knew that the shocks weren’t real
this is a limitation because it means the study can be criticised for lacking internal validity, in which case Milgram wasn’t testing what he set out to intent.
explain the evaluation of ecological validity for Milgram’s study
there is a major criticism that the experiment is not ecologically valid. it can be argued that Milgram’s work was carried out in an artificial setting and that the task of giving an individual an electric shock does not represent real life instances of obedience this is a weakness because it can be questioned how well he results regarding individuals obedience applies to real life situations
what is ecological validity
is the behaviour you’re measuring true or natural
explain the evaluation of unethical for Milgram’s study
Milgram caused harm to his participants, it cause physical harm and psychological harm as 3 people went into full blown uncontrollable seizures this is a limitation because it breaks ethical guidelines and it should not have been allowed to be done
explain the evaluation of lacking generalisability for Milgram’s study
Milgram put an article in the newspaper where he offered money. it was an unrepresentative sample as wealthier people will not have taken part as well as everyone who took part was a man so we can’t be certain that women would be as obedient
