Milgram's Research Into Obedience

• How were ppts chosen?

  Volunteer sampling
• How many ppts were there in Milgram's experiment?

  40
• Generalisability

  Low, all ppts white male American volunteers between the ages of 20-50, small sample of 40
• Reliability

  High, highly controlled lab experiment, similar results in the replications
• Application

  Events like the holocaust, shows that people will obey those with legitimate authority
• What experimental design was Milgrams experiment?

  Independent measures
• Ecological validity

  Low, artificial environment and task, lacks mundane realism
• What was the shock range?

  15v - 450v
• What happened as the shocks increased?

  The ppt heard pre recorded sounds of pain, at 315v the ppt didn't answer and fell silent
• Internal validity

  Good, obedience was operationalised and made objective, ethical breaches gave a better measure of obdience
• Ethics

  Lack of informed consent, deception, psychological harm and right to withdraw compromised
• Findings

  All pps went up to 300v
• How many were deemed obedient and went to 450v?

  65%
• What happened when the ppt asked to withdraw?

  The confederate gave them 4 prompts to continue before they were allowed to leave
• Telephonic instructions obedience

  22%
• Rundown office obedience

  48%
• Ordinary man gives orders

  20%
• Variation 7 - Telephonic Instructions

  • the experiment was conducted in the same way except the experimenter gave the instructions and then left the room
  • there was a telephone by the ppt that they could use to contact the experimenter if needed
  • if this happened the experimenter gave instructions over the phone
• Variation 10 - Rundown Office Block

  • rundown office suite away from Yale uni
  • ppts were told the research was being undertaken by a private company
  • more realistic environment
  • higher ecological validity
• Variation 13 - Ordinary Man Gives Orders

  The experimenter has to leave the room and an ordinary person (confederate) from the study, who wasn't perceived to be in a position of authority, gave instructions to the ppt instead