milgram original essay plan

• Milgram original AO1


  AIM: investigate whether ordinary people would follow orders and potentially harm innocent people

  METHOD: 20-50 yr old, all males, volunteer sample, range of occupations except students, all from New Haven America

  PROCEDURE: used confederate experimenter and learner

  1) ppts assigned role of teacher through a rigged lot

  2) ppt watches learner get strapped in a given test shock of 45V to prove real

  3) ppt goes to adjacent room with the shock generator and switches 15V-450V increasing in increments of 15V - labelled slight shock, intense shock, and XXX

  4) teacher to teach word pair lists to learner and administer increasing voltage shocks when mistakes made

  5) verbal prods given if hesitation shown - please continue, the exp requires that you continue, it is absolutely essential you continue, you have no other choice you must go on

  RESULTS: 65% went to full 450V, 100% to 300V, 35% showed nervous laughter , ppts observed to sweat, tremble, bite lip etc

  CONCLUSION: ppts surprisingly obedient to legitimate authority - number of factors explain obedience : perceived competence and reputation of researcher and idea that the ppt was helping to advance science
• Milgram original AO3 strength


  validity

  . some argued ppts obeyed due to knowing the shocks weren't real = questions internal validity as means Milgram wouldn't have been testing what he intended to

  .CA = findings were supported by Hoflings exp = increases external validity as data similar = less likely due to chance, Milgram said the observed anxiety and distress in ppts was an extreme reaction and wouldn't have occurred if they thought the shocks were fake = high internal validity

  .So What: validity high as evidence from other sources supports the findings
• Milgram original AO3 weakness

  generalisability

  . sample of 40 men from America = androcentric as women may have obeyed differently and culture bound as can't represent obedience in other cultures, volunteer sample = ppts may be more motivated to take part and act differently to please experimenter = not generalisable to everyday obedience

  .CA = included people with a range of occupations, age, status etc = somewhat generalisable to target population

  .So What: can't generalise to wider population as sample not representative and may not reflect obedience in other individuals
• Milgram AO3 strength

  S: standardised procedure was used eg same experimenter and learner, same setting, same mistakes made at same time = high internal validity. this and fact it was lab exp means extraneous variables could be controlled and the study could be replicated = high external validity.

  CA: some argue there is a lack of validity as in some cases the experimenter used up to 20 prods instead of the supposed 4 to encourage obedience = lowers validity as standardisation is lost so is not measuring obedience in same way as other trials.

  SW: overall though it is mostly standardised and controlled = cause and effect can be established and validity is high