Situational variables affecting obedience: Milgram

• Define obedience

  obedience is complying with the demands of an authority figure
• Key study: supporting obedience

  Milgram (1963) study
• Aim: Milgram (1963) study


  If ordinary American citizens would obey an unjust order from an authority figure and inflict pain on another person because they were instructed to
• Sample: Milgram (1963) study and how were participants decieved


  • 40 male participants from a range of occupations and backgrounds
  • Volunteers who responded to an advert in a local paper which offered $4.50 to take part in an experiment on 'punishing and learning'
• Where was Milgram's study located?

  Participants were invited to a lab at Yale University
• Name all the roles in milgram's (1963) study


  • Experimenter (confederate)
  • Learner (confederate)
  • Teacher (participant)
• How were the roles of 'learner' and 'teacher' assigned in Milgram's study


  • The experimenter explained that 1 person would be randomly assigned the role of teacher and the other the role of learner.
  • The real participant was always assigned the role of teacher
• What did the experimenter tell the teacher and learner to do in Milgram's study


  • The experimenter explained that the teacher would read the learner a series of word pairs and then test their recall.
  • The learner, who was positioned in an adjacent room, would indicate his choice using a system of lights
• How did the experimenter convince the participant that the procedure was real in Milgram's study?


  • The teacher watched the learner being strapped to the electric chair and was given a sample electric shock to convince them that the procedure was real
  • The learner wasn’t actually strapped to the chair and gave predetermined answers to the test
• How was the 'learner' punished in Milgram's study?


  The teacher was instructed to administer an electric shock every time the learner made a mistake and to increase the voltage after each mistake
• Milgram's (1963) study

  1. At 180 volts, the learner complained of a weak heart
  2. At 300 volts, he banged on the wall and demanded to leave
  3. At 315 volts, he became silent to give the illusions that he was unconscious or dead
  4. The experiment continued until the teacher refused to continue or 450 volts was reached
• What would happen if the teacher tried to stop the experiment in the Milgram's study

  • If the teacher tried to stop the experiment, the experimenter would respond with a series of prods
  • for example: ‘The experiment requires that you continue.’
• What happened after Milgram's study was completed

  The participants were debriefed
• Findings: Milgram (1963)


  • Milgram found that 100% went to at least 300 volts
  • 65% continued until the full 450 volts
  • Only 12.5% stopped at 300v