milgrim's research

• what was the aim of milgrim's research?


  to investigate how far people will be prepared to go in obeying an authority figure
• who was milgrim's sample?

  40 men, aged 20-50, from many careers, voluntary
• what did participants believe the study to be?

  a "learning and memory" test, how well people learn with punishments
• how was the experiment set up?

  learner (mr wallace) strapped to a chair with wires in one room

  teacher and experimenter (authority figure) in a different room
• the learner...

  was secretly a confederate
• how was the experimenter made to look legitimate?

  wearing a white lab coat, represents science
• the task was...

  to read out a list of word pairs to learner

  learner responded by pressing a switch
• what happened when an incorrect answer was made?


  the teacher would administrate an electric shock to learner
• what were participants told about the shocks?

  that they may be painful but not harmful (so have no lasting damage)
• what types of responses did the learner give?

  standardised - the same recorded on tape for every participant
• examples of the experimenter's standardised responses...

  "the experiment requires you to continue"

  "you have no other choice but to go on"
• what percentage of participants obeyed up to 300 volts?

  100%
• what percentage of participants obeyed up to the full 450 volts?

  65%
• what voltage did the volts start?

  15 volts
• what are examples of qualitative data that was collected?

  extreme tension, trembling, stuttering

  3 participants had seizures
• what did the experiment demonstrate?

  how ordinary people are astonishingly obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane way - it is not evil people who do evil things but ordinary people following orders
• what did the experiment prove about crimes against humanity?

  these crimes are a result of situational factors rather than dispositional factors
• a person's capacity for making decisions...

  is suspended under some circumstances - like being given an order by an authority figure
• what happened to all participants after the experiment?

  they were all debriefed - told the true nature of the experiment, and that their behaviour was normal

  checked up on a year later as well by milgrim
• why were the results of the experiment shocking to milgrim?

  he had intended to do the experiment in Germany after America, believing that Germans would be much more obedient than Americans (due to what happened in WW2)

  however, Americans were shockingly obedient
• the study had low internal validity because...

  it has been argued that participants guessed that the shocks were not real, and so displayed demand characteristics, not their real behaviours
• what did ome and holland (1968) say about the experiment...

  that participants were "play-acting"
• what did gina perry (2013) discover when relistening to milgrim's original tapes?

  1/2 believed that the shocks were real, 2/3 were disobedient towards the experimenter

  participants may have shown demand characteristics due to the prestigious location of the experiment
• what happened during sheridan and king (1972) puppy version of the experiment?

  participants were asked to give real shocks to puppies in response to an authority figure

  shocks to the puppies did not hurt them - after a specific voltage they were exposed to a gas that would make them sleepy
• what was the obedience rates in sheridan and king's puppy study?

  men = 64%

  women = 100%
• what was the problem with milgrim's sample?

  all subjects were male and Americans of a similar age - results cannot be generalised to people of other genders, cultures and ages

  as well, results may not representative of todays society - obedience may be different from 1970's to present day
• good external validity means...

  the extent to which the study can be generalised to other settings - milgrim argued that the lab accurately represented wider authority relationships in real life
• what happened during hofling et al's study (1966)?


  study in a hospital - doctor told 22 nurses to administrate double the dosage of astrofen

  21/22 nurses started to administrate the drug

  supports a real life situation
• did hofling's research support or limit milgrim's research?

  support
• what changed in rank and jacobson version of the experiment (1977)?


  replicated hofling's experiment with a few changes - nurses were told in person and the nurses knew the doctor, nurses knew the drug valium, nurses could talk to other nurses
• what was rank and jacobson's results?

  only 2/18 of their nurses obeyed the orders - they were prevented from continuing
• what occurred on the french game show "game of death"?

  audience members cheered on for "more violence"

  80% of participants went to max shock
• what strengths does the game show give to milgrim's study?

  supports milgrim's external validity - works in other settings

  more prevalent to the modern day - milgrim's study is still relevant
• the three situational variables of milgrim's study were...

  location, uniform and proximity
• location...


  study was moved from the prestigious yale university to a run-down building

  obedience = 47.5%
• uniform...


  experimenter was called away and replaced with an "ordinary member of the public"

  obedience = 20% (lowest)
• proximity (of learner)...


  learner and teacher seated in the same room

  40% obedience
• proximity (of learner - physical force)...


  teacher had to force learner's hand onto a shock plate

  30% obedience
• proximity (of authority)...


  experimenter gave their orders via telephone from a different room

  21% obedience
• miranda et al...


  found that the obedience rate for spanish students was over 90% - obedience was not limited to american males