social

• Milgram had a sample of 40 male volunteer participants selected from 500 aged between 20-50.
• milgrim: a controlled observation, in a laboratory, not an experiment because there was no independant variable.
• milgrim: placed ad in a local paper, participants were sought for a scientific study related to memory.
• milgrim: self selected sample.
• milgram: biology teacher dressed in a technicians coat played the experimenter. The learner played by a 47 yr old accountant trained for the role.
• milgrim: took place in a laboratory at Yale University.
• milgrim: participants told that the study aimed to see punishment affected learning. It was actually aimed to investigate the process of obedience.
• milgrim: if the teacher wanted to stop giving shocks the experimenter would say ‘the experiment requires you to continue’ and ‘you have no choice you must continue’.
• milgrim: quantitative data

  all participants continued giving shocks up to 300 volts.

  5 participants stopped at 300 volts.

  9 participants stopped between 315 and 375 volts.

  obedience: 26/40 p’ continued till the end - considered obedient

  disobedience: 14/40 p’ were disobedient
• milgrim: qualitative data

  many p’ showed signs of nervousness, sweat, tremble , stutter, bite their lips, dig fingernails into their flesh. Uncontrollable seizures observed for 3 p’ Participants comments showing distress
• Milgrim: One strength of study is that variables, such as shock levels, are easier to control. However, there was likely to be certain extraneous variables e.g phone rings. Might affect the obedience in participants.
• Milgram: Another limitation is that it may not generalise well because it only looked at white middle class men from America. Therefore, we cannot know how other groups will react.
• Milgram: A further weakness is that the results might not apply to real life situations where people can leave or refuse to obey orders. In this situation, participants had no way out so they felt obligated to follow through with the experiment.
• Bocchiaro: is a controlled observation in a laboratory.
• Bocchiaro: self selected sample of 149 Dutch Uni students. 96 women and 53 men.
• Bocchiaro: aimed to investigate how people deal with an unethical request. P’ have the option to obey, disobey or whistle blow.
• Bocchiaro: responded to flyer in Uni Cafeteria.
• Bocchiaro: 2 further groups of p’: 92 students took part in pilot tests and 138 ‘comparison‘ students were asked to predict obedience behaviour.
• Bocchiaro: 8 pilot tests were conducted with 1 group to ensure the procedure was morally acceptable and data was used to gain ethical approval.
• Bocchiaro: study took place in a lab at the Uni of Amsterdam and the experimenter role was played by a confederate.
• piliavin: background: murder of kitry genovese caused psychologists interest in bystander behaviour.
• piliavin: aims: to investigate the effect of certain variabless on individuals speed and willingness to help

  • type of victim
  • race of victim
  • modelling
  • group size and relationship to helping
• piliavin: field experiment, IMD using observational technique, snapshot study.

  several IVs:

  • type of victim
  • race
  • presence of model
  • group size

  DVs:

  • time it took for help to be offered
  • number of people who offered help
• piliavin: opportunity sample of passengers on the NY subway during the middle of the day (11am to 3pm)

  4450 men and women on trains

  mean number of people per car was 43

  mean number of people in the ‘critical area’ was 8.5

  confederates played victim and models, all students from columbia uni aged 25-35