Obedience

• What is obedience?

  • A form of social influence where an individual follows a direct order usually issued by someone of authority who has the power to enforce punishment when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming
• What was Milgram's baseline procedure?

  • Milgram (1963): sample included 40 American male volunteers who were given the role of 'Teacher' whilst confederates were given the role of 'Learner'
  • Learners had to remember pairs of words and were quizzed by Teachers who had to deliver electric shocks when they made errors, ranging from 300 - 450 V (330V marked as lethal)
  • Experimenter's role was to give a series of orders / prods when the participant refused to administer a shock from a different room, increasing in demand each time they refused
  • Participants' were assessed on how many volts they were willing to shock the confederate with (obedience levels)
• What were Milgram's baseline findings and conclusions?

  • All participants went up to 300V, 65% went up to 450V
  • Only 12.5% stopped at 300V
  • Participants showed signs of extreme tension; sweating, trembling, 3 even had 'full-blown, uncontrollable seizures'
  • Concluded that people are willing to obey orders even when they might lethally harm others
• What is one strength of Milgram's research?

  • Research support: findings were replicated in a French documentary made about reality TV
  • Beauvois et al (2012): focused on a game show where participants were paid to give [fake] electric shocks to other participants [actors] in front of an audience - 80% delivered maximum shock of 460V
  • Behaviour was almost identical to Milgram's participants when showing signs of anxiety - supporting Milgram's findings about obedience to authority
• What is one limitation of Milgram's research?

  • Low internal validity: Orne and Holland (1968) argued participants were 'play-acting' and didn't really believe in the set-up
  • Perry (2013) reported that only half of Milgram's ppts. believed the shocks were actually real and 2/3rds of these ppts. were disobedient
  • Suggests participants may have been responding to demand characteristics trying to fulfil the aims of the study rather than acting genuinely
• What is another strength of Milgram's research?

  • High external validity: Hofling et al (1966) covertly observed the behaviour of doctors and nurses - found that 95% of nurses obeyed a confederate doctor over the phone to increase the dosage of a patient's medicine to double what is advised on the bottle
  • Suggests everyday individuals are still susceptible to obeying destructive authority figures, increasing the external validity of Milgram's research
• What is another limitation of Milgram's research?

  • Ethical issues: deception involved as participants believed they were taking part in a study on 'memory'
  • Psychological harm was inflicted upon participants, showing signs of physiological distress such as trembling, sweating, and having uncontrollable seizures
  • Socially sensitive as it suggests those who are responsible for killing innocent people can be excused as it is not their fault but rather the difficulty in disobeying destructive orders