Milgram's Research

• When did Milgram conduct his study?

  1965
• What is obedience?


  Form of social influence where a person follows a direct order. The person issuing order is most likely a figure of authority who has power to punish lack of obedience
• What did Milgram want to understand?

  Understand why Germans followed Hitler's orders and if Germans were more obedient
• What was Milgram's aim?

  To see if ordinary Americans would obey unjust orders from a perceived authority figure
• Who were the pps?

  • 40 male students (volunteer sample) and were told the study was on role of punishment in learning
• What was Milgram's method?

  • Pps drew straws to decide roles - confederate, 47 yr old Mr Wallace was always the learner and the true pps was always the teacher
  • Learner would learn word pairs and teacher would give an electric shock for wrong answer
  • Learner was strapped to shock generator and teacher sat in adjacent room with shock machine (15v-450v in 15v increments)
  • True pps was given small shock to show feeling
  • Mr Wallace mentioned heart problem
• What were the prompts used if the teacher objected?

  • 'Please continue' or 'please go on'
  • 'the experiment requires that you continue'
  • 'it is absolutely essential that you continue'
  • 'you have no other choice, you must go on'

  The researcher also said that the fault would be on him and they would not suffer consequences
• What was the expected result?

  As intelligent men, no more than 3% would reach 450v
• What were the baseline findings?

  • No pps stopped before 300v
  • 12.5% stopped at 300v (5pps)
  • 65% of pps continued till 450v - showing extreme tension, sweating
• What was the conclusion?

  Obedience to authority is in human nature and people will obey orders that go against conscience in certain situations
• What were the variations of Milgram's study?

  • Change of venue to rundown building = 47.5% to 450v (decrease in conformity)
  • Teacher and learner in same room = 40% to 450v (decrease)
  • Teacher paired with confederate assistant who presses switches = 92.5% to 450v (increase)
  • Teacher has to force learner's hand on shock plate = 30% to 450v (decrease)
• What were the weaknesses of Milgram's study?

  • No informed consent (could have been dealt with by gaining presumptive consent)
  • No protection from harm as pps had signs of distress and after experiment knew they were willing to deliver lethal shocks
  • Deception
  • Experimental validity - Orne and Holland (1996) argued pps knew they weren't giving out real shocks and went along to please experimenter (demand characteristics)
  • Milgram said in post-experiment questionnaires pps believed real shocks were given