Milgrams shock study

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Created by
Lily Johnson

Cards (11)

  • Aim- to find out why Germans were willing to kill Jews during the holocaust, to see if it’s to obey to a legitimate authority figure.
  • Procedure- lab experiments where participants were assigned teacher, learner was always a confederate and they were put in separate rooms. Teacher asked by experimenter (in lab coat) to administer an electric shock to learner if they answered a question incorrectly. Shocks increased in volts every-time from 15-450 volts.
  • Procedure- experimenter gave a serious of orders (prods) when participant refused, there were 4 prods and if one was refused he’d read out the next.
    1. please continue
    2. experiment requires you to continue
    3. it is absolutely essential that you continue
    4. you have no other choice but to continue.
    • Findings- all participants went to 300 volts
    • 65% did 450 volts
    • when experimenter was on phone obedience dropped to 20.5%.
    • Evaluation- lacks ecological validity as it was carried out in a lab under artificial condition, can’t generalise conditions to real life setting.
    • Evaluation- sample was bias, only used males, Cant generalise to females.
    • Evaluation- gives an insight as to why nazis were willing to kill jews when given orders.
    • Evaluation- high reliability as it used a standardised procedure, was a lab experiment, helps establish a causal relationship.
  • Uniform= experimenter wore a lab coat (symbol of scientific expertise) this gave him a high status. when experimenter dressed in everyday clothes obedience was very low.
  • Location= conducted at Yale, the high status of university gave the study credibility and respect in the participants eyes, making them more likely to obey. When experimenter moved to a set of run down offices, obedience dropped to 47.5%.
  • Proximity= in study, experimenter was in the same room as participan. If authority is distant, it’s easier to resist the orders, when experimenter was over the phone obedience fell to 20.5%. many participants cheated or missed out shocks, even gave less voltage than ordered.