Milgram study 1963

• Aim

  observe whether people would obey to a figure of authority when told to harm another person
• Participants

  40 men aged 20-50 recruited from newspaper adds
• Roles

  teacher = participant

  student = confederate

  decided through random allocation
• Procedure

  Participants had to ask confederates questions

  • wrong answers = shock, even when no answer was given
• shocks

  shocks would increase 15 volts at a time - 300v - 450v lethal
• deception


  Participants thought the shocks were real when the confederates were acting
• what were participants assessed on?

  how many volts they were willing to shock confederate to
• What where the prods used by experimenter when participants no longer wanted to continue?

  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.
• How many participants went to lethal dose?

  65%
• All participants went up to.......no participants stopped bellow.......

  300V
• How many participants stopped at 300 volts

  12.5%
• Participant deception in Milgram's experiment

  1. Participants thought the allocation of roles of both Teacher and Learner was random but they were not as Milgram's confederate was always the learner

  2. Participants believed the electric shocks were real

  3. Milgram debriefed the participants afterward to ensure they understood the real intentions of the experiment
• French documentary

  • Le Jeu De La Mort (The Game of Death)
• Participants

  • Paid to give electric shocks ordered by the presenter to other participants in front of a studio audience
  • The participants who were receiving the shocks were actors and the shocks were fake
• 80% of the participants delivered the maximum shock of 460 volts to what appeared to be an unconscious man
• Participants' behaviour

  • Showed signs of anxiety, nervous laughter and nail-biting
• Participants' behaviour

  Nearly identical to that of Milgram's participants
• This supports Milgram's original findings of obedience to authority