Key study-Milgram

• Milgram was interested in how far people would go in obeying a instruction if it involves harming a person.
• Volunteers were recruited for a controlled experiment. Participants were 40 males(20 to 50). They were paid $450. At the beginning of the experiment they were introduced to another experiment. Drew straws to determine there roles. These were fixed and the confederate was always the learner. There were 2 rooms in the yale interaction labatory. They were put in a room and attached to a electrode. When they answer incorrectly, they were getting shocked. Despite this, they were told to carry on. Predictions were 3% would go up to 450 volts.
• Two thirds of the participants continued to highest level of 450 volts. All participants continued to 300 volts. Some were shaking, some were laughing and 3 of the participants had seizures.
• Conclusion- Under the right circumstances people would obey orders.
• One positive is that it is a lab experiment. This means that it is controlled so it was easier to repeat and set up for different participants. As well as this, it is a controlled experiment so it is more likely to be accurate.
• Another positive was the presumptive consent. This means that the participants couldn't say that they didn't know what they are doing and it is a ethical experiment.
• Another positive was that there was a follow up questionnaire. 92% responded and 84% were glad to have been involved, 15% were not bothered and 1.3% regretted to take part. As well as this, there was a follow up interview a year later by independent psychologists. This shows us that it didn't have a lasting affect on the participants and most were happy to have taken part.
• It was a lab experiment which means it lacks ecological validity. This means it cannot be generalised to the real world. This is because shocking someone does not happen at all so nobody would have to react to that.
• Another weakness is that there is no protection from harm. There was no protection from psychological or physical harm. This means there was no protection for the participants which is the priority which means it is a unethical experiment,
• Another weakness is that they weren't allowed to leave. The one part of every experiment is that every participant has a right to leave at any time.
• Another weakness is Milgram study has low internal validity