milgrams original study

• aim

  to investigate how far people will obey an instruction given by an authority figure
• participants

  40 volunteers - white men ages 20-50 from new haven USA
• Procedure

  1. participants introduced to confederate

  2. told they are randomly given 'learner' and 'teacher' roles but is always 'teacher'

  3. learner learns a list of word pairs & teacher tests the learner through a 2-way microphone

  4. If learner gets answer wrong - teacher gives an electric shock which increases after every wrong answer (ranges from 15V to 450V)

  5. audio of learner screaming played after every shock until they stop responding to teacher

  7. experimenter instructs teacher to continue giving shocks with prods if they stop shocking the learner
• prods:

  • prod 1: please continue
  • prod 2: the experiment requires you to continue
  • prod 3: it is absolutely essential that you continue
  • prod 4 you have no other choice but to continue
• findings

  • all participants continued to deliver shocks up to 300V
  • 65% delivered max 450V
  • 14/40 showed nervous laughter
  • 3/40 had seizures
• conclusion

  most people would harm others as long as they were being instructed by an authority figure
• strength

  • internal validity
  • actor for researcher, instructions given to confederate, prods used and shock machine used was the same throughout experiment
  • suggests participants obeyed due to experiments procedure and demonstrates cause-effect relationship between authority and obedience
• strength

  • experiment applicable to real life
  • tarnow (2000) used milgrams findings on obedience to train trainee pilots to challenge errors made by their captain. tarnow believes training can reduce up to 20% of potential plane crashes.
  • findings that people obey authorities have been used in a beneficial way - potentially saving lives
• weakness

  • low population validity
  • subjects were 40 male ages 20-50, white from new haven area USA
  • therefore, cannot be sure findings of obedience to authority is a common behaviour
• weakness

  • low mundane realism
  • being ordered to shock another person in experiment is unlike everyday examples of obedience such as being told to throw out the trash by a parent
  • therefore findings on obedience might not be applicable to explain obedience or defiance in real life
• weakness

  • research evidence to suggests milgrams study was not controlled
  • gina perry (2012) argued that there were occasions where experimenter deviated from the script and gave 20 prods before he allowed a participant to leave
  • suggests findings on obedience may not be valid as study was not controlled
• 8. experiment ends when participant has administered highest shock (450V) or kept protesting after 4th prod

  9. experimenter informs participant that learner was never shocked