Obedience

• Obedience - Where someone reacts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority.
• Milgram - part 1

  Aim - To investigate if individuals would obey the orders of an authority figure even if this led to negative consequences

  Sample - 40 American males aged 20-50

  Procedure - Advert in newspaper seeking volunteers, paid $ 4.50

  Real ppt the teacher and confederate was always the learner

  the teachers job was to administer a learning task and deliver 'electric shocks' to the learner if they got a question wrong

  15 volts to 450 volts

  prompts such as 'Please continue'
• Milgram - part 2

  Findings -

  All ppts went to at least 300v, with only 12.5 % stopping.

  65 % of ppts carried on to the maximum 450v, showing high levels of obedience.

  Conclusion -

  Ordinary people are obedient to authority when asked to behave in a humane way. It is not necessarily evil people who commit evil crimes but ordinary people who are obeying orders