Milgram

• Milgram: Findings


  - All PPs went to 300 volts

  - 12.5% stopped at 300 volts

  - 65% went to highest level of 450 volts

  - PPs were debriefed assured behaviour was normal

  - Follow up questionnaire showed 84% were glad to have taken part
• Milgram A03: Research Support


  - The central feature of this experiment was the relationship between the authority figure and PPs

  - Milgram argued that the lab environment accurately reflected wider authority relationships in real life

  - This is supported by other research where nurses in a hospital ward were studied and it was found that levels of obedience to demands by doctors were very high (21 out of 22 nurses obeyed)

  - This suggests that processes of obedience to authority that occurred in Milgram's study can be generalised to other situations in real life.
• Milgram A03: Supporting replication


  - A replication of Milgram's study in a French reality show has supported Milgram's ideas

  - PPs believed they were contestants in a pilot episode for a new game show

  - In this study, 80% of PPs delivered maximum shock of 460 volts to an apparently unconscious man

  - Behaviour was identical to Milgram's PPs

  - Supports Milgram's original conclusions about obedience to authority is findings weren't just due to special circumstances
• Milgram A03: Social identity theory 


  - Social identity theory states the key to obedience lies in group identification.

  - In Milgram's study, PPs identified with the experimenter

  - When obedience levels fell, this was because PPs identified less with the experimenter and more with victim

  - The behaviour of PPs was analysed and looked at how a person behaved every time the four prods were used

  - First three don't demand obedience, they appeal for help with the experiment but the 4th prod demands obedience so the PPs quit
• Milgram A03: Ethical issues

  - Milgram lead PPs to believe that the allocation of teacher and learner roles was random but it was fixed

  - The most significant deception was that the electric shocks weren't real when Ps believed they were.

  - This has been objected to as deception is seen as a betrayal of trust that could damage the reputation of psychologists and their research
• What are Milgram's prods

  1. Please continue
  2. The experiment requires you to continue
  3. It is absolutely essential that you continue
  4. You have no other choice but to continue
• Milgrams procedure

  • 40 male PPs aged 20-50 through ads in newspapers and said he was doing a study about memory
  • Offered $4.50 to take part
  • Confederate was always the 'learner', true PP was the 'teacher'; there was also an 'experimenter' (confederate)
  • Learner was strapped into a chair in another room teacher was required to give the learner an electric shock every time the learner made a mistake, but the shocks were not real
  • Shock level started at 15 and rose up to 450 volts- When got to 300 volts the learner pounded on the wall and gave no response to next question
• Milgram AO3: Low Internal Validity

  • PPs may have guessed the electric shocks weren't real so behaved differently
  • Confirmed by research; tapes of Milgram's studies were reviewed and many of them expressed doubts about the shocks
  • Study was conducted where real shocks were given to a puppy; 54% males and 100% of females gave what they thought were fatal shocks
  • The effects in Milgram's study were genuine as people behaved the same way with real shocks
  • Milgram reported that 70% of his PPs said they believed the shocks were genuine