To follow an order from a person with recognised authority over you
Milgram’s aim
To discover how far someone would obey orders even if it meant causing pain
Milgrams’s procedure
Used 40 male participants from a selfie selected sample
Participants paid 4.50hour
Fixed lottery so P was always teacher
Learner had to recall words and every wrong answer increased voltage
Told this was an experiment in punishment for learning
Findings
65% of participants gave the full voltage
100% of participants went to 300 volts
Prods were used
Milgrams Variations-
Moved to an office 47.5%
Teacher and learner in same room 40%
Teacher forced hand onto plate 30%
Social support 10%
Instructed over phone 20.5%
No uniform 20%
Proximity
Ps can see th shocks they are given so therefore will feel more guilty as they want to be responsible for pain
Location
Experiment may feel less official if it was done in a seedy location
Uniform
Uniform suggests there is a legitimacy of authority and recognized authority and will instead see the experimenter as an equal
Autonomous State
Direct own behaviour and take responsibility for actions
Agentic State
mental state where we feel no responsibility and instead pass it onto somebody else
Legitimacy of Authority
A condition needed to shift to the agentic state. LOA is the perception that someone has perceived social control over us requiring uniform and institution
