Telephonic instructions

• Aim

  • Milgram aimed to see whether the physical distance between the experimenter and the teacher would affect obedience levels. (1)
• Procedure

  • The experimenter gave the initial instructions to the participants while face to face in the same room (1). 
  • The experimenter then left the room, leaving the participants alone to administer the punishment to the learner (1).
  • There was a shock machine in the room that went up to 450 volts for participants to shock the learner (1),
  • with further instructions about administering the shocks being given by the experimenter over the telephone (1).
• Results 

  • only 22.5% participants in experiment 7 did obey the instruction to give the maximum shock of 450 volts
• Conclusions

  • Milgram (1963) concluded that the physical presence of an authority figure was important in whether a person showed obedience or defiance (1) as only 22.5% participants in experiment 7 did obeyed the instruction to give the maximum shock of 450 volts, compared to the 65% obedience in his initial experiment (1).
• Improvements to be made 

  • One improvement to Milgram’s (1963) telephonic instructions study would be to conduct the experiment in the participants workplaces as a more realistic location (1) which would increase the ecological validity of the findings about the proximity of the authority figure on obedience as it would be more true to real life (1).