Milgram

• who researched obedience levels

  Milgram (1963)
• what is obedience

  a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order usually from a figure of authority
• baseline procedure of Milgram 1963

  40 American male volunteers (told it was a study of memory)

  lab experiment

  volunteers were paid $4.50 for taking part

  used a fixed draw so the pps were always the teacher
• detailed procedure of Milgram

  the learner ('Mr Wallace') was strapped to a chair wired up to electrodes

  the teacher (pp) was given a small shock to experience for themselves

  the learner had to remember a pair of words

  each error= the teacher delivered a increasingly (fake) shock
• how were the shocks administered

  with a wrong answer the teacher would press a switch on a 'shock machine'

  the switches were labelled 'slight shock' to 'intense shock' to 'danger-severe shock'
• what happened when the teacher reached 300 volts

  the learner pounded on the wall and then gave no response to the next question

  'an absence of a response should be treated as a wrong answer'
• what happened at 350 volts

  the learner pounded on the wall but was then silent for the rest of the procedure
• a control variable used

  same audio recording of the reaction to the shocks used for each pps
• what was the first prod used by the experimenter to order the etcher to continue

  prod 1- 'please continue' or 'please go on'
• second prod used

  prod 2- 'the experiment requires that you continue'
• third prod used

  prod 3-' it is absolutely essential that you continue'
• fourth prod used

  prod 4- ' you have no other choice, you must go on'
• baseline findings

  all participants delivered up to 300 volts

  12.5% (5 pps)= stopped at 300 volts

  65% (26 pps)= continued to 450 volts - highest level
• qualitative data of Milgram's findings

  pps showed signs of extreme tension, sweating, stuttering , trembling and biting their lips

  3 pps= had 'full-blown uncontrollable seizures'
• other data that Milgram collected before the study

  Milgram asked 14 psychology students to predict the pps behaviours

  student estimate= 3% of pps would continue to 450 volts

  shows that the findings were unexpected
• data collected after the research

  all pps were debriefed and assured their behaviour was normal

  in a questionnaire= 84% said they were glad to have participated
• conclusion of Milgram

  ordinary people will obey orders to hurt someone else, even if it means acting against their conscience

  he suspected there are factors that encourage obedience
• strengths of Milgrams baseline research

  research support (Sheridan and King) (Beauvois et al)

  standarized procedure
• research of Beauvois et al (2012)

  focused on a game show

  the pps in the 'game' show believed they were in a pilot episode for a new show -'the game of death'

  pps were paid to give 'fake' electric shocks to other pps (actors) in front of a studio audience
• findings of Beauvois et al

  80%=0.8 delivered maximum shock of 460 volts to an apparently unconscious man

  almost identical behaviour to pps in Milgrams study- nail biting, nervous laughter etc
• conclusion of Beauvois et al

  supports Milgram's original findings about obedience and authority

  demonstrates Milgram's findings were not just due to special circumstances
• research of Sheridan and King (1972)

  conducted a procedure like Milgram's

  pps gave real shocks to a puppy in response to orders from an experimenter
• findings of Sheridan and King 1972

  54% of men= gave 'fatal' shock

  100% of women= gave 'fatal' shock
• conclusion of Sheridan and King

  suggests that the effects in Milgram's study were genuine because people behaved obediently even when the shocks were real
• limitations of Milgram

  low internal validity (one and Holland, Perry)

  demand characteristics (Haslam et al)

  ethical issues
• Orne and Holland (1968) research

  argued that the pps behaved as they did because they didn't really believe it was real

  pps were play-acting
• Perry's (2013) research

  confirmed Orne and Hollands research

  she listened to tapes of the Milgram's pps and reported that only 1/2 of them believed the shocks were real

  2/3 of these pps were disobedient

  suggest pps were responding to demand characteristics
• Haslam et al (2014) research

  showed that Milgram's participants obeyed when the experimenter delivered the first 3 verbal prods

  but every pps who was given the 4th prod disobeyed social identity theory- the pps only obeyed when they identified with the scientific aims of the research

  were they ere ordered to blindly obey an authority figure, they refused
• conclusion of Haslam et al's research

  shows that social identify theory may provide a more valid interpretation of Milgram's findings