Obedience Studies Flashcards
(4 cards)
1
Q
What was Milgram’s procedure into obedience?
A
- Milgram (1963) got 43 American men to take part in his ‘memory’ study
- participants were paired with a confederate and were told they were randomly assigned learner or teacher and an experimenter was also present seen in a lab coat
- the learner (confederate) was asked questions by the teacher (participant) and if the answer was incorrect then the participant had to register an electric shock of up to 450V
- the participant was unaware that these shocks were fake
2
Q
What were the findings of Milgram’s research into obedience?
A
- all participants went to 300V
- 65% of participants went to the full 450V knowing that the other person could be dead from this shock
- he also measured qualitative data made on observations of how the participant was acting e.g anxious
- he concluded that Germans aren’t different and that anyone is willing to obey to an extent
3
Q
What is one strength of Milgram’s research into obedience?
A
- strength of research support from Beauvois et al (2012) which is a French documentary that replicated Milgram’s study and found that 80% delivered the maximum shock - reliable
4
Q
What are 3 limitations of Milgram’s research into obedience?
A
- limitation of low internal validity as Orne and Holland (1968) argued that participants were play-acting and didn’t believe the experiment was real - backed up by (Perry) - demand characteristics
- limitation of alternative findings as Haslam et al states that participants stopped obeying after the 4th prod from the experimenter as they stopped identifying with the research - lacking in external validity
- limitations of ethical issues - so bad that this experiment joint with Zimbardo’s was the reason that ethical guidelines had to be put in place due to the severe psychological damage that participants had to endure
