Milgram obedience

• What is the main difference between obedience and conformity?

  Obedience involves a position of power ordering us to do something, while conformity does not have an explicit requirement.
• Who conducted well-known research into obedience?

  Milgram
• What was the aim of Milgram's study on obedience?

  • To investigate if Germans were different in blindly obeying authority
  • Inspired by atrocities during WW2
• What was the hypothesis proposed by Milgram regarding obedience?

  Milgram hypothesized that Germans are different from the rest of the world in regards to blindly obeying orders from an authority figure.
• What type of sample did Milgram use for his study?

  A volunteer sample
• Why did Milgram state that the study was about memory?

  To uphold the validity of the study
• How many male Americans participated in Milgram's study?

  40
• Who did the participants believe was another participant in the study?

  Mr. Wallace
• What role did the real participant take in the experiment?

  The role of the teacher
• How was the role of the teacher assigned in Milgram's study?

  It was rigged so that the real participant was always the teacher.
• What were the participants instructed to do when the learner answered incorrectly?

  They were instructed to give an electric shock starting at 15 volts and increasing in 15-volt intervals.
• What was the maximum voltage participants were instructed to administer?

  450 volts
• What did the real participant observe before asking questions?

  The learner having electrodes taped to his arm.
• What was the purpose of the shock generator in the experiment?

  To simulate electric shocks to the learner.
• What did the tape recording simulate during the experiment?

  The sounds of the learner receiving electric shocks.
• What phrases were played at different shock levels?

  At 120 volts, 'the shocks are becoming painful'; at 270 volts, an agonized scream; at 330 volts, a worrying silence.
• How did Milgram measure obedience in his study?

  By observing if participants would listen to verbal prods from the authority figure.
• What were some signs of distress displayed by participants during the experiment?

  Participants twitched nervously, sweated, stuttered, and some had seizures.
• What percentage of participants went up to 450 volts?

  65%
• How many participants stopped the experiment before reaching 450 volts?

  5 participants (12.5%)
• What were the conclusions drawn from Milgram's study on obedience?

  • Germans are no different from the rest of the population regarding obedience.
  • People will blindly obey authority figures even when it may harm others.
• strength-gave us an insight into human nature. Prior to the first study he asked a group of professional psychiatrists and psychologists how many people they thought would go to 450 volts. They said around 1-2% - the true sociopaths in society. The fact that the majority of the participants went up to 450 volts, potentially believing that they had killed another person was a huge insight into the danger of blind obedience. The results showed that Milgram was wrong. This insight into human nature is a strength because it can be used such as genocide and prevent them happening again.
• Protection from Harm - Participants were very distressed at the thought of hurting somebody else. negative effects were sweating, trembling, breaking out in nervous laughter and having seizures. It is not acceptable for participants in psychological studies to undergo this level of stress. Milgram should have terminated his research as soon as he noticed the distress they were under. Counterpoint: Nevertheless, there was no evidence of permanent harm in the participants. Forty of the original participants were interviewed one year after the study and none showed signs of emotional distress.
• limitation-low internal validity. Orne and Holland argued that ppts did not believe in the set up and went along with the fake electric shocks to keep experimenter happy. Argued this lowers internal validity as Milgram wasn't measuring true rates of obedience-might mean that obedience rates aren't as high as he predicted. limitation because the results may not be as accurate as once believed. However, Milgram disputes this by pointing out that many of his participants were in great distress at the thought of harming another person. If they didn't believe it they would not have been so upset.