Milgram’s aim was to investigate how far people would go in obeying an authority figure
There were 40 men aged 20-50 from the New Haven area in Milgram’s observation
Milgram’s sample type was opportunity and it is considered a controlled observation
In Milgram’s observation there was no IV and the DV was the amount of volts administered
Milgram’s observation was hosted at Yale University and participants were told that they were researching the affects of punishment on learning
The participants were always the teacher in the fixed lottery
The confederate learner was in another room. The participant was given a 45V shock to show the machine worked. The learner had to match words from 4 pairs, and if they were wrong they were shocked
The participant shocked in 15V intervals, at 300V the learner falls silent.5 participants stopped at 300V despite being prompted to continue
Milgram’s results: all 40 participants gave shocks up to 300V
Milgram results: 26/40 went up to 450V and were considered obedient
Milgram’s results: 14/40 disobeyed
Milgram’s results: participants would swear, tremble, stutter, bite their lips and 3 had seizures
Milgram’s ethical issues: Deception, no protection from harm, no informed consent, however there was a debrief
Bocchiaro’s aim was to investigate obedience and whistleblowing rates in a clearly unethical situation
Bocchiario’s sample was 149 undergraduates (96 female, 53 male), self selected and considered a scenario study
Bocchiaro had no IV and the DV was how many people whistleblew or disobeyed
Bocchiaro did 8 pilot tests to ensure believability
In the university of Amsterdam, the experimenter told the participant about a fake experiment on sensory deprivation and asked them to write an enthusiastic statement to volunteer some friends
participants were taken to a second room to write their statement and fill in the ethics form, then complete 2 psychological tests, lasting 40 minutes overall
Bocchiaro ethics: deception was used, but it is considered necessary, informed consent was given, there was a right to withdraw and a full debrief
76.5% of participants obeyed, 9 whistleblew anonymously while 5openly whistleblew. There was no significant difference in whistleblowers except for faith.
P aim: to investigate the effect of differentvariables on speed and willingness to help
P sample:4,450 people on the 8th avenue subway between 11am-3pm in 1968.opportunity sample, field experiment, independent measures design
P IV: type of victim, race, presence of model
P DV: time taken to help and number of helpers
P procedure:4students board train separately for 103 trials, each ride lasted 7:30minutes. 70 seconds in confederate collapses and remains there until help is received. 38 trials were drunk condition and 65 were cane trials. The model helped either 70 seconds after the collapse or 150 seconds.
P conditions: drunk condition = victim smells of liquor and has bottle wrapped in a brown bag. cane condition = victim has black cane. both victims dress the same and are college age males
P results: cane received help 95% (62/65) of the time and drunk only 50% (19/38). 90% of first helpers were male.sameraceeffect, drunk condition helpers more likely to help those of the same race.
Pqualitative results: women said ‘it’s for men to help’ or ‘you feel so bad when you don’t know what to do’
P ethics:noinformedconsent,noprotectionfromharm (mental, emotional distress), no right to withdraw, no debrief
L aim: to investigate how culture impact non-emergency helping rates
L sample: 50 participants in 23 countries. opportunity sample, quasi experiment, independentmeasuresdesign
L IV: people in each city (naturally occurring)
L DV: helping rate (calculated individually for each city)
L procedure: data collected on clear days in downtown areas during business hours in summer months in 1992-1997. participants selected from anyone over 17 and physically able, then selected randomly (every second able participant)
L dropped pen: experimenter walks at moderate pace towards participant and drops pen around 10ft away. 424 people were approached, helping counted as returning pen or telling the experimenter they dropped it
L hurt leg: experimenter had leg brace and walked with limp, within 20ft participant drops magazines and attempts to pick them up. 493 approached, helping counted as offering help or helping without offering
L blind person: experimenter wore dark glasses and held white cane, waiting for help on street corner. trial terminated after 60 seconds or if light turned red. 281 trials conducted,help counted as informing experimenter of green light
L communityvariables:populationsize, economic indicator (purchasing power parity), cultural values, pace of life
L results: Brazil and costa rica most helpful, malaysia and new york least helpful. simpatia cultures were significantly more likely to help. no gender differences