milgram V13 essay plan

• Milgram variation 13 (ordinary man) AO1

  AIM: see whether ordinary people obey due to strength of the command itself or the status of the person giving the orders

  . changed the original by adding another confederate 'time recorder' - experimenter had to leave due to a fake phone call, tells ppt and confederate to continue teaching learner, confederate then suggests using shocks if errors made

  RESULTS: 20% obedience, 80% refused to continue when experimenter left

  CONCLUSION: orders must come from a legitimate source to be effective - is an important situational factor in obedience
• Milgram variation 13 AO3 strength

  high experimental control = higher reliability - lab exp so variables well controlled and standardised = cause and effect can be established so reliability is also high

  CA: high control and lab exp = lack of mundane realism, behaviour may not have reflected real life obedience

  So What: despite this the experiment was meant to reflect the original with only one change so had to be a lack of mundane realism to match the original, and the control then means it can be compared with due to standardisation
• Milgram variation 13 AO3 weakness

  lacks internal validity - withdrawal of experimenter was awkward, many traces of derived authority - obedience may be even lower in situations where person giving orders is completely isolated to any authority and institutional context

  CA: still maintained a controlled experimental design so perceived authority variable could be isolated so data measured meets aim despite the lack of validity

  So What: overall though lack of validity means may not be able to be applied to obedience in everyday situations