Burger 2009 contemporary study

• Burger aimed to see if Milgrams findings were era-bound and if obedience is affected by gender, personality traits and desire for personal control
• Was his a volunteer sample ?


  Yes
• His sample consisted of 70 adults aged 20 - 81 years
• His sample had 29 men and 41 women
• How did he recruit his sample ?

  Through distributing flyers at libraries, farmers markets, coffee shops and community centres - in newspapers and online
• Who did burger employe to protect his participants ?

  6 ethical safeguards
• Burger stopped at 150v whereas milgram stopped at 450vz, this is because burger belived that was 'the point of no return'
• what did burger do to all participants before allowing them to continue with the study ?

  All participants had a 2 - step screening process to exclude volunteers who may react negatively to the experience
• A mild 15v shock was given to participants compared to milgrams 45v shock - true or false ?


  True
• Participants were given 3 chances to the right to withdraw, and twice in writing
• What percentage of people pressed 150v ?

  70
• burger only went to 150v to reduce distress
• Conclusion - he found that milgrams findings were not era-bound
• Was this experiment generalisable ?

  Yes - he used a representative sample, meaning it was diverse as he used a wide age range and both female and males
• Was this experiment reliable ?

  Yes - it has test-retest reliability, they replicated milgrams script and filmed the experiment
• Was this experiment useful ?

  Yes - it helps us to understand obedience, and that it is evolutionary as it remains similar over time
• Was this experiment internally valid ?

  no - it was a volunteer sample which suggests that they all have similar personalities which can show similarities in samples
• Was this experiment ecologically valid ?

  No - it had a laboratory setting which means the environment is unnatural, and participants were asked to perform a unrealistic task which wouldn't be asked of them in ordinary life.
• Was this experiment ethical ?

  Yes - participants had 3 chances to withdraw , all participants were screened and excluded those who may react negatively to reduce harm and distress