4. Obedience: Milgram's research

• What is obedience?


  a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order from a figure of authority
• What was Milgram's hypothesis?


  Germans were different as they had extreme levels of obedience towards the Nazis
• What was the procedure of Milgram's study?

  1. pps were given role of teachers
  2. students were all confederates
  3. teacher was told to administer electric shock if student got a question wrong
  4. voltage of shock increased up to 450v with each incorrect answer
  5. student didn't receive electric shock and instead an increasingly distressing recording was played
  6. if teacher questioned study, researcher would use 4 prompts, 'please continue'
  7. observation ended when all prompts were used or voltage equaled 450v
• What were the findings of Milgram's study?


  • 65% of pps went all the way to 450v - labelled as obedient
  • 100% of pps went to 300v
  • 35% didn't continue past 300v - labelled as defiant
  • pps shook their heads/sweated/trembled