Milgram 63

• Milgram's 63' Study

  Study to investigate the levels of obedience to an authority figure when following orders meant to harm another person
• Procedure

  1. Lab experiment at Yale university

  2. PP's = 40 males, ages 20-50 ; volunteered from a newspaper ad

  3. Were paid an incentive of $4.50

  4. Believed the study was on the effect of punishment on learning

  5. Used a rigged draw to allocate the PP as the 'teacher' and the other PP (confederate) the 'learner'

  6. Gave PP a sample shock and order to shock PP if answer was wrong ; had to increase 15V every time

  7. Learner would scream after shocks and at 300V demanded to be let out ; went silent at 315V

  8. Experimenter gave verbal prompts to 'please continue' and 'the experiment requires that you continue'
• RESULTS:


  100% of PPs obeyed to 300V

  65% of PPs obeyed to the full 450v

  PPs showed signs of moral strain - sweating, nervous laughter
• CONCLUSION:

  In the right situation, people will obey to the extent of harming others
• LOW Generalisability


  PP sample was only from the New Haven area, so cant apply to the wider pop and other cultures
• HIGH Reliability


  lab exp so control over extraneous variables, used a standardised procedure so can be replicated to test for reliability.
• LOW Ecological Validity


  The task of shocking a learner for wrong answers is not reflective of real life, and the exp was held in an artificial setting so PPS may not believe they were actually administering shocks
• LOW Population Validity


  Volunteers, so sample may be biased, only consisting of a certain type of person
• HIGH Experimental Validity


  PPs showed signs of moral strain, suggesting they were convinced the exp was real
• Ethical Issues


  PPs were deceived as they did not have informed consent, not fully aware of their Right to Withdraw, suffered psychological harm