Milgram variations

Created by

Evieee

Cards (9)

Experiment 10: Rundown office block
to test the effect of the setting Milgram moved the study to a rundown building, in the downtown shopping district of Bridgeport, an industrial city near Yale uni (new haven, connecticut)
participants were told the study was being run by a private firm, conducting research for industry
the results of this study were that 47.5%of participants were fully obedient.
interview transcripts show that participants voiced their doubts about the legitimacy of the research and their fears for the learner's safety
the prestigious context is an important situational factor that affects lebels of obedience
the shabby setting reduced the legitimacy of the researcher
the link to the scientific research, however, was enough to still encourage high levels of obedience
Experiment 7: Telephonic instructions
the 'experimenter' gave orders over the telephone
Milgram states that only 22.5% were fully obedient under these circumstances
participants also lied on the phone, saying they were raising the shock level when they weren't and often repeatedly administering the lowest shock on the machine.
participants seemed to find it easier to resist authority in this passive way than openly challenge the authority figure
when the researcher came back into the room, defiant participants became obedient again
the physical presence of the authority figure appears to be an important situational factor that increases obedience and reduces dissent
Experiment 13: ordinary man gives orders
to find out if people will obey an order due to the strength of the command itself or due to the status of the person giving the order
participant arrives with 2 confederates rather than 1
1 confederate assigned role of learner and other confederate assigned the role of recording times from a clock.
real participant = teacher
experimenter explains task as usual and teacher observes learner being strapped to the chair
experimenter fakes getting a phone call calling him away - he asks the teacher and recorder to get the learner to learn all the word pairs - once gone, the recorder suggests administering shocks that increase by 15V every mistake
80% of participants refused - shows that orders must come from a legitimate source to be effective - an important situational factor
Evaluation of experiment 10 - rundown office block
strength - milgram collected quantitative and qualitative data in the form of audio recordings
Modilgliani and Rochat (1995) conducted a re-analysis of the interview transcripts of 36/40 of the participants - found that the earlier in the procedure that the participant challenged the experimenter, the more likely they were to be fully defiant
this qualitative data allowed moldigiani and rochat to gain a deeper insight into different types of resistance and use what they had learned to explain the 'ordinariness of goodness' displayed by people who defied the authorities and rescued potential victims during the holocaust.
Evaluation of experiment 7 - telephonic instructions
strength = subsequent research has replicated this finding, demonstrating high external validity
eg, sedkides and jackson conducted a study at a new york zoo.
this study also demonstrated that when the authority figure is no longer present, obedience drops significantly
shows that milgram's results on physical proximity generalise well to other more naturalistic situations
Evaluation of experiment 13: ordinary man gives orders
a weakness = lacks internal validity
milgram explains that the withdrawal of the experimenter from the laboratory was awkward
although aim = to see what happens when the orders come from someone who has no legitimate authority, this was almost impossible to achieve
milgram says there were many traces of 'derived authority' as it was the experimenter who initially described the study and the idea of administering shocks
this suggests that obedience may be even lower in situations where the person giving orders is completely unrelated to any authority figure or institutional context
Experiment 13a: What Milgram did next
As in Experiment 13, in 13a there is a participant teacher and a confederate recorder, and no experimenter present. If the participant teacher refused the confederate recorder's directions, the confederate recorder would become angry. He said he would administer the shocks himself and that that participant teacher should record the duration of the shocks
this situation unleashed toxic heroic behaviour, in stark contrast to the more usual deferential politeness shown to the 'experimenter'. Nearly all participants protested against this, some unplugged the shock machine, four physically retrained the confederate who was supposedly delivering the shocks and one threw him across the room. However, one participant broke the mould, he seemed to admire the confederate and described him as 'strong and capable'
Children and obedience - developmental psychology
psychological research has shown that the way people think about authority changes as they get older, presumably as a result of socialisation
eg, Kohlberg (1968) developed a stage theory in which he proposed that children aged 4-10 years have an unquestioning deference to authority. This changes with age until early adulthood when some people, but not all, develop a more universal sense of right and wrong and no longer defer to authority if they think the orders are wrong.
Issues and debates
Milgram faces many pracitical issues in the design and implementation of his research
Eg, about 900 participants took part in this series of studies which were conducted over many months. This may have resulted in participants being exposed to people who had already participated who may have discussed the fact that the shocks were not real.
this could have jeopardised the validity of future results as 'contaminated' participants may have acted in accordance with what they thought was expected of them rather than showing natural behaviour