Baseline A01

• Milgram investigated the contrast between seemingly normal war veterans and the horrific actions they committed.
• Milgram conducted his experiment using 40 males who were placed in groups of two with another man, who was a confederate. They acted as the teacher who had to teach the confederate, who acted as a learner, a series of word pairs. If the learner got it wrong, they were given increasingly strong electric shocks. However, the shocks were fake which the naive ppt didn't know. The learner would complain of heart problems and then fall silent at 315v. There was also an experimenter in the room with the naive ppt (teacher) and when the naive ppt asked to stop the experimenter told them to continue.
• Milgram's Baseline: Findings & Conclusion


  In a pilot survey, they thought that most participants would stop at 140V, however all went to 300v and 14 stopped between 300 and 375, with 26 going all the way to 450. This shows that social setting is a powerful determinant of obedience. We are socialised to recognise authority and react to obedience. The more the ppts obeyed, the more difficult it became to say no.