A03

• * evidence to support findings by hoflings nurses?

  • experiment where doctor (authority figure) asked nurse to give large dosage of drug to patient that could kill them
  • 20/21 nurses gave high dosage(was actually glucose had no effect)
  • people do obey orders of those they perceive to have authority over them
  • for d.o to occur legitimate authority figure must be present
  • reliability of milgrams findings shown by obedience to authority is clear in natural settings as well
• X ungeneralisable?

  • m used volunteer sample of men from usa
  • p had responded to ad in paper so all likely to have interest in science
  • only using men - androcentric cannot explain obedience levels of women
  • ? population
  • findings are not generalisable to entire population
  • obedience may differ in other people
• X unethical

  • deception involved telling p taking part in memory study rather than test of obedience
  • p suffered psychological harm by stress - one p broke out in stress rash/one left & immediately smoked full pack of cigs
  • ? integrity
  • m had not respected p breaking bps guidelines
  • difficult to repeat so reliability cannot be assessed
• X socially sensitive research?

  • m research suggests ordinary people can behave in evil way when given orders from legitimate authority figure
  • used to explain nazis behaviour - committed violent acts in ww2
  • adolf eichmann "just following orders"
  • used to remove blame from soldiers & shift to commanding officer
  • important that research does not offend/upset members of public
  • m had to take extreme care to share findings of his work & ensure wasnt used to justify actions of criminals