Milgram's Study on Obedience (1963)

• what was the sample of Milgram's study?

  • 40 males, aged 20-50, from Connecticut USA
• what was the location?

  Yale University
• what were participants paid?


  $4.50
• who was the naive participants?

  the teacher (always this role)
• who were the confederates?

  • Mr Wallace - learner (getting fake shocks, fakes screams/bangs wall)
  • Investigator - man in white lab coat (gave prods)
• what was the pretend purpose of the study?

  a word pair test
• what was the real aim of the study?

  do participants obey and keep giving shocks from orders from an authority figure
• what percentage of participants go to 450 V?

  65%
• what percentage stopped at 300/315 V (learner is unconscious)?

  12.5%
• what percentage went to 300V?

  100%
• what qualitative data was collected from participants?

  • nervous laughter
  • nail biting
  • uncontrollable seizures
  • extreme tension
  • groaning
  • digging fingernails into hands
• what was the conclusion?

  • American participants in study were willing to obey authority even when they might harm another person
  • Shows that German people are not 'different'
  • Milgram suspected there were certain factors in the situation that encouraged obedience, so decided to conduct further studies to investigate theses
• how was informed consent addressed in Milgram's experiment?

  • didn't fully consent to being deceived
  • participants assumed to experiment was benign and expected to be treated with dignity
• how was deception addressed in Milgram's experiment?

  • 1964 Baumrind criticised Milgram for deceiving
  • believed the shocks were real
  • were unaware the learner was a confederate
  • 83.7% said they were 'glad to be in the experiment'
  • 1.3% said they wished they had not been involved
• describe protection from harm in Milgram's study?

  • visible distress
  • uncontrollable seizures
• how was right to withdraw addressed in Milgram's study?

  • experimenter gave prods which mostly discouraged withdrawal from experiment
  • 35% chose to withdraw
• what is the reliability of Milgram's study?

  YES:

  • each participant was always teacher (controlled)
  • experimenter had a range of 4 different prods they could use
  • shock level measures were clearly stated and implied that they could cause fatal damage NO:
  • some prods had different undertones, chosen prod could've been different for each participant - this could've affected their obedience
  • selective reporting of experimental findings - only ones that supported Milgram's conclusions
• Deception was used in Milgram's study to conceal the aims of the investigation and to ensure that demand characteristics did not affect the results.
• Participants in Milgram's study were given electric shocks themselves, leading them to believe that later shocks were real.
• Orne and Holland (1968) argued that participants in Milgram's study behaved as they did because they were 'play-acting', not believing in the set up.
• Perry (2013) research confirms Orne and Holland's argument, reporting that half of the participants in Milgram's study believed the shocks were real, and two-thirds were disobedient.
• what was the external validity of Milgram's study?

  Can't generalise results - sample was biased (all male)
• what was the aim of Hofling et al (1966) study?

  to investigate whether nurses would obey orders from an unknown doctor to such an extent that there would be risk of harm
• what was the method for the Hofling (1966) study?

  • confederate 'Dr Smith' instructed 22 nurses individually by phone to give his patient 'Mr Jones' 20mg of 'Astrofen' when the label clearly says 10mg max dosage
  • hospital rules stated that doctors must sign authorisations before medicine is given and that nurses should not take instructions over the phone
• what were the findings of Holfing (1966) study?

  • of the nurses, 21 obeyed without hesitation
  • a control group of nurses were asked what they would've done: 21 said they wouldn't have obeyed without authorisation or exceeded max dosage
• what were conclusions of Hofling's (1966) study?

  • influence of authority of doctors is a powerful determinant of the nurses' behaviour
  • there is a difference between what people say they would do in a scenario and their actual behaviour in the presence of authority