Milgram- obedience

• What was milgram testing ?

  “ the Germans are different“ hypothesis
• How did milgram find pp?

  • afvert in newspaper for volunteers to take part in a memory study at Yale

  - men age 20-50

  - payed 4$ =40£

  - range of jobs
• Procedure 1-3

  1. Met experimenter + mr Wallace (learner)
  2. told experiment on the effects of punishment on learning
  3. pp ‘randomly‘ allocated to teacher or learner
• Procedure 4-6


  4. Mr Wallace strapped into chair with electrodes on arms

  5. teacher in adjacent room

  6. shown shock generator (goes up in 15v)
• Procedure 7-10


  7. Given 45v shock

  8. teacher read list of words

  9. learner must pick right or get shocked

  10. each wrong answer goes up in 15v
• Findings ?


  All went to 300v

  65% went to 450v
• What’s prods we’re given ?

  1. Please continue
  2. experiment requires that you do
  3. essential you continue
  4. you have no choice
• What were some behavioural repsonses ?

  • 3 had seizures
  • sweating
  • shaking
  • comments
• What variations ?

  • experimentor in normal clothes
  • instructions over phone
  • force learner hand on shock plate
  • tecaher + learner in same room
  • move to near by offices
  • teacher given support by 2 confederates
• What are the evaluation ?

  1. research method
  2. sample
  3. validity
  4. reliability
  5. practical application
  6. ethical issues
• Research method ?

  • controlled
  • standardised procedure
• Sample ?

  • volunteer bias
  • only male
  • american
  • age
• Validity ?

  • ecological - low
  • internal- high as control + no demand characteristics
  • investigator bias
• Ethical issues ?

  • informed consent
  • debrief
  • confidentially
  • right to withdraw
  • deception
  • protection from harm
  • privacy
• Reliability ?


  High
• application ?


  benefit society
• What is research support for milvrans variation ?


  Bickman- 3 confederates dressed differently - asked ppl to pick up litter

  1. milkman
  2. security guard( twice as likely to obey)
  3. jacket + tie
• Evaluation of variations ?

  • individual differences
  • practical application- uniform in schools
• What are the 4 variations ?

  1. Proximity of authoritative figure
  2. location
  3. uniform
  4. proximity of victim