milgram

• What was the aim of Milgram's study?


  to study how far people would go in obeying orders that went against their moral code, even if it meant harming others
• How many people took part in Milgram's study?


  40 males
• How were participants deceived during Milgram's study?


  • Recording of learner
  • Aim of study - believed it was a memory test
  • Equal chance of allocation of roles
  • Real harm
  • Heart problems
  • Verbal prods
• What research method was used in Milgram's study?


  Controlled observation
• What is the independent variable in Milgram's study?

  Level of voltage administered by participants
• What is the dependent variable in Milgram's study?


  Participant's willingness to obey instructions
• What experimental design is used in Milgram's study?


  Independent measures/groups
• What year did Milgram's study take place?


  1961
• What method was used in Milgram's study?


  Assign roles in bias draw

  Scenario where the participant (teacher) was instructed to administer electric shocks to the confederate (learner) for incorrect answers in a memory task

  The shocks were not real but the participant believed they were as they were given a small shock to demonstrate pain before the test began

  If participants showed signs of doubt/refused to continue the experimenter would use verbal prods
• What were the results of Milgram's study?


  • 65% continued to max volts (450)
  • All participants continued to 300 volts
  • 14 defiant participants refused to continue to max volts
  • Participants showed signs of distress - sweating/stuttering etc
  • Some participants lied that they administered shocks
• What were the conclusions of Milgram's study?


  • People become obedient to authority figures even if it goes against their moral code
  • Signs of emotional distress are evident when following orders
  • People are willing to harm someone if the responsibility is taken away from them and placed on someone else - in this circumstance the experimenter
  • The rate of obedience was unexpectedly higher than hypothesised
• What variation of Milgram's study achieved 90% obedience?


  Confederate administered shock on behalf of the participant
• What variation of Milgram's study achieved 50% obedience?



  Change of location - Run-down office building instead of Yale univeristy
• What variation of Milgram's study achieved 40% obedience?



  Proximity - learner and teacher in the same room
• What variation of Milgram's study achieved 30% obedience?



  Proximity - teacher places learners hand on metal plate to inflict shock
• What variation of Milgram's study achieved 21% obedience?


  Proximity - The experimenter left the room after initial instructions and gave further instructions over the phone
• What variation of Milgram's study achieved 20% obedience?



  Uniform - The experimenter was confederate in normal clothes instead of lab coat
• What variation of Milgram's study achieved 10% obedience?



  Confederate brought in to administer shocks on behalf of participant but refused
• Was the generalisability of Milgram's study a strength or weakness and why?


  Weakness - androcentric/ethnocentric so cannot be generalised to society

  - used volunteer sampling so an artificial situation
• Was the reliability of Milgram's study a strength or weakness and why?


  Strength - easily replicable due to scientific methods with similar results (Bickman, Hofling and Milgram's variations)
• Was the applicability of Milgram's study a strength or weakness and why?


  Strength - demonstrated the power of authority figures to influence behaviour such as soldiers (Adolf Eichmann) and nurses (Hofling)
• Was the internal validity of Milgram's study a strength or weakness and why?


  Strength - participants believed shocks were genuine so obedience is valid (some argued participants didn't think shocks were genuine but some participants lied that they had administered shocks when they hadn't)

  • However, there was no psychological testing that could have ruled out dispositional factors that influence obedience
• Was the external validity of Milgram's study a strength or weakness and why?


  Weakness - artificial laboratory setting that represents a military-style obedience

  - cannot be replicated due to modern ethical implications
• Was the ethics of Milgram's study a strength or weakness and why?


  Weakness - high levels of deception (recording, pain, allocation of roles, aim of study)

  - participants showed signs of emotional distress but experimenter used verbal prods to continue

  • However, Milgrams did not predict such high levels of obedience therefore such unethical results
• Was Milgram's study subjective or objective and why?


  Objective - achieved aim throughout all Milgram's, Bickman, and Hofling's variations
• Outline Bickmans variation of Milgram's study


  Explores uniform as a situational factor that affects obedience

  Three male actors - one dressed as a milkman, one dressed as a security guard, one dressed in ordinary clothes

  Asked members of the public - pick up a bag, give someone money for a parking meter, stand on the other side of the bus stop which says 'no standing'

  Results : Security guard = 76% obedience, Milkman = 47% obedience, Pedestrian = 30% obedience

  People are more likely to obey when instructed by someone in a uniform as that creates a sense of authority of power
• Outline Hofling's variation of Milgram's study


  Investigate obedience to authority in a real-life setting, specifically in a hospital

  Method - 22 nurses called by the researcher as fake doctor and asked to find and administer the wrong dosage of drug (placebo) to the patient

  Results - 95% conformed before being stopped while only 1 nurse questioned the authority

  Conclusion - People are unwilling to question authority even when they have a reason to because of the consequences nurses face due to unequal power relations
• What were the situational factors that Milgrams studied in his variations?


  • Proximity
  • Uniform
  • Location