burger essay plan

• burger AO1


  AIM: replicate milgrams study to see if findings were era-bound, and if obedience is affected by gender and personality traits of empathetic concern and desire for personal control

  METHOD: 20-81 yr olds, 29men and 41 women, 55% white, 5% African-American, lab exp, volunteer sample

  PROCEDURE: same as migrams but used 6 ethical safeguards:

  1) max voltage 150V

  2) screenings used - first to eliminate ppts who had taken 2 psych classes, second to test for mentally fitness and personality questionnaires

  3) given 3 reminders of right to withdrawal

  4) test shock only 15V

  5) ppts debriefed immediately after

  6) clinical psychologist supervised all trials

  RESULTS: 70% went to 150V, no significant difference between men and women, no sig difference between empathetic concern scores between defiant and obedient ppts, defiant ppts had higher desire for control scores

  CONCLUSION: findings not era-bound or androcentric, lack of empathy not an explanation for obedience, desire for control does determine likelihood of defiance
• burger AO3 strength


  . generalisability

  . diverse sample due to variety of ages, ethnicities, gender = more representative of wider population = obedience can be measured in a wider range of individuals = more generalisable to obedience in people in general population

  . CA - volunteer sample = ppts may be more likely to obey as want to take part + may have similar personalities to all have wanted to do it = potentially lowers generalisability

  . So What: overall sample diverse = unlikely ppts would all have similar personalities due to nature and nurture factors = sample generalisable and allows results to be applied to wide range of ppl
• burger AO3 weakness


  validity

  . high controlled + lab experiment = obedience less likely to be impacted by extraneous variables = higher internal validity

  . CA: lab exp means contrived setting so ppts may have been more obedient due to environment or guess aim, lack of mundane realism as electrocuting ppl not everyday task so may not represent obedience in real life situations = lowers ecological validity

  .So What: high control + lab exp can be good, however here means obedience can't be seen in its natural occurrence so lowers validity