Obedience (booklet 3) Flashcards
(15 cards)
Define obedience
The change in an individual’s behaviour to comply with an order by an authority figure
What was Milgram’s aim?
To investigate how far ordinary people were willing to go when instructed to obey an authority figure to harm another person
To test the ‘Germans are different’ hypothesis
What sampling technique was used by Milgram?
Volunteer
Describe Migrams procedure
40 American men volunteered to a study supposedly on memory
Each volunteer introduced to a confederate as they arrived- told it was another participant
Fixed draw always assigned real P teacher role
Learner had to remember pairs of words
Experimenter wore grey lab coat
Teacher given small shock to experience
Ordered by experimenter to shock learner when errors made with increasingly strong shocks
Shocks were fake but participant didn’t know this
At 300 + 315V learner pounded on wall then silent for rest of procedure
What were Milgram’s findings?
Every participant delivered shocks up to 300V
12.5% stopped at 300 (intense shock)
65% continued to highest level = fully obedient
Milgram collected qualitative data - participants sweat, trembled, bit their lips, groaned, dug their fingernails into their hands, 3 participants had ‘full blown seizures’
How did Sheridan and King’s (1972) findings differ from Milgram’s?
An authentic victim (being able to see the puppy the shocks were being delivered to) was used
Participants paced back and forth, hyperventilating and wept
Despite this, 54% of the 13 male p’s and 100% of the 13 female p’s gave all shocks
Shows Milgram’s research was androcentric- different results for males and females
Why did Orne and Holland (1968) claim Milgram’s experiments were low in internal validity?
Suggested participants might have been going along with what the experimenter wanted- showing demand characteristics
Why might Orne and Holland’s claim that Milgram’s study lacked internal validity be false?
Participants showed visible signs of stress eg sweating, trembling, biting lips, groaning, digging fingernails in hands, seizures
Why did Orne and Holland claim Milgram’s research lacked ecological validity?
Artificial setting/ task
Findings can’t be easily generalised
How was cultural bias shown in Milgram’s study?
All participants were American so results won’t apply to other cultures
Highest level of obedience found when replicated in Spain- 90%
Lowest level of obedience in Australia- 28%
What 4 ethical issues were identified in Milgram’s study?
Psychological harm
Deception/ lack of informed consent
Right to withdraw
Financial inducements
To what extent were Milgram’s participants exposed to psychological harm?
✅exposed to severe stress- shown by physical reactions eg seizures
✅Milgram didn’t always debriefing participants as tested nearly 3000 people so didn’t want real aim to become common knowledge
❌Only 2% regretted being involved
❌74% thought they learned something useful about themselves
❌psychiatric assessments done 1 year after study showed no long term damage
To what extent were Milgram’s participants subject to deception/unable to give informed consent?
✅Milgram deceived his participants so they couldn’t give informed consent
❌Milgram debriefed his participants
❌deception was necessary for participants to behave realistically
To what extent did Milgram not give his participants the right to withdraw?
✅no explicit right to withdraw was given beforehand
✅attempts to withdraw during procedure met with verbal prods/encouragement to continue
❌Milgram argued participants did have the right to withdraw as 35% refused to continue
To what extent was financial inducement an issue in Milgram’s experiment?
✅advert stated they would receive $4.50 which may have lead P’s to believe they had to finish the study to receive
❌advert stated they would be payed on arrival
❌no participant ever claimed they thought they had to obey to get payed
