obedience

• milgram's study - procedure

  aimed to study obedience when an authority figure is present

  40 American male volunteers

  volunteer introduced to confederate and both were asked to choose a sheet allotting them to either teacher or learner

  the confederate was always a learner and volunteer teacher

  The teacher had to ask learners word pairs and if the answer was wrong they were to administer an electric shock each higher than the last
• milgram's study - findings 


  all participants delivered all shocks until 300 volts

  12.5% of participants stopped at 300 volts

  65% continued to 450 volts

  Milgram noted some participants were sweating, biting their lip, digging their fingernails into their hands and some had full-blown uncontrollable seizures
• research support 


  P: strength - Milgram's findings were replicated

  E: participants thought they were shooting a pilot episode for a new show and were told to administer electric shocks to other participants

  E: 80% of the participants administered the full 460 volts and the same nervous behaviour was recorded

  L: therefore Milgram's study has high reliability as the findings can be replicated
• low internal validity


  P: limitation - did not test what he intended to test

  E: Most of the participants were play-acting and didn't believe the set up was real

  E: only half of the participants believed the electric shocks were real and two-thirds of these participants were disobedient

  L: therefore the participants may have responded to demand characteristics
• counterpoint 


  P: strength - the study was replicated

  E: participants were asked to deliver electric shocks to a puppy

  E: despite the real distress of the puppy, 58% of men and 100% of women gave what they thought was a fatal shock

  L: therefore obedience in Milgram's study was real
• alternative interpretation of findings

  P: limitation - Milgram's conclusions cannot be justified

  E: Participants were willing to administer electric shocks when they identified with the scientific aims of the study (e.g. the experiment requires you to carry on)

  E: however when asked to blindly obey an authority figure the participants refused

  L: therefore social identity theory may be a more accurate theory for explaining obedience
• ethical issues in Milgrams study 


  deception

  protection from harm

  right to withdraw