Milgram

• Obedience is psychological mechanism that binds people to systems of authority. Form of social influence.
• Milgram- obedience involves abdication of individual judgement in face of external pressure.
• obedience involves being instructed or ordered to do something or influence of authority figure. Maintains social power in hierarchal society.
• people commanded by legitimate authority usually obey- key feature of social life
• obedience is productive+ society depends on it
• Holocaust- millions slaughtered on command, actions originated from one person but otheres obeyed
• History + observations show that obedience is engrained + can override empathy, ethics + moral values
• adoption of the agentic state accounts for horrific act in names of obedience
• agentic state= when people are willing to follow orders without question
• AIM- study process of obedience by testing how far an individual will go in obeying an authority figure, even when breeches moral code
• called experiment- really- Controlled observation- No IV
• Study conducted in lab at Yale- controlled conditions- teacher + learner controlled thru fixed lottery, standardised responses+ examiners 'prods'
• Data gathered by experimenter in same room + observers behind 1 way glass- tape recordings + occasional photographs
• Prior- 14 psych majors estimated ppts to administer highest shock
• sample- 40 males from 20 -50, all from new haven area
• sample obtained by newspaper ads + direct mail solicitation. Was designed to mimic those who would've been working at concentration camps
• ppts told study was about memory
• ppts were paid just for showing up
• 14 Yale seniors- asked to predict behaviour of 100 ppts- said that insignificant minority would progress to the end
• 40 ppts given role of teacher + saw learner strapped into chair with non active electrodes. Shock of 40 volts administered to make it seem real
• teacher sat in front of electric shock generator in adjacent room and told to conduct paired words test and shock learner for every wrong answer
• All ppts continued to 300 volts. 65% to 450
• 26 labelled as obedient, 14 disobedient
• many ppts exhibited stress symptoms- sweating, trembling, stuttering. 3 had seizures. most showed relief upon completion
• inhumane acts can be done by ordinary people
• people obey legitimate authority, even when asked to go against moral beliefs
• Individual differences- personality influences extent to which people are obedient
• milgram- due to credibility of uni, people trusted the study
• new situation so people cant draw from own experience