Milgram

• Milgram- Procedure

  • advertised in a local paper for men to take part in a memory experiment
  • conducted at Yale university
  • 40 males volunteered
  • Ps were told there were 2 roles- a teacher & learner and that these would be randomly assigned
  • teacher was always the participant
  • learner was always the confederate
  • when learner gave the wrong answer, Ps were told to administer increasingly strong electric shocks
  • maximum voltage shock= 450 volts
  • experimenter gave prompts to Ps to continue such as 'the experiment requires you to continue'
• Milgram- findings

  • found 65% obeyed to 450 volts
  • all Ps obeyed to 300 volts
  • only one person regretted taking part
  • 74% said they learnt something of importance
• Milgram- conclusion

  • ordinary people are very obedient to authority even when asked to behave in an inhumane manner
• What are Milgram's situational variables?

  1. Proximity
  2. Location
  3. Uniform
• Proximity

  • obedience decreased when participant & authority figure were not in the same room (gave order overs the phone) bc Ps felt less pressure to obey without the presence of an authority figure
  • obedience decreased when participant & learner were in the same room bc Ps could see the consequences of their actions- saw the learner in distress so were less likely to obey
• Location

  • obedience decreased to 48% when the experiment was conducted at a run down office block rather than at Yale university
  • bc Ps perceived the experimenter & setting to have less legitimate authority since it was conducted at a less prestigious setting
• Uniform

  • obedience decreased to 20% when the authority figure was dressed in plain clothes rather than a grey lab coat
  • bc Ps questioned the authority of those in no uniform & felt less pressure to obey
• X= Ps were selected through volunteer sampling

  • issue as it could've led to a biased sample
  • e.g. those who responded were more obedient
  • means findings may not be representative of obedience in the general population
• X= ethical issues

  • Ps were deceived- were led to believe they were harming another individual- means informed consent was not gained
  • Ps may not have felt they had the right to withdraw as they were prompted by the experimenter to continue
  • Ps may have experienced psychological harm as they were visibly distressed since they believed they were harming another person
  • BUT...
  • interviews after found only one person regretted taking part and 74% said they learned something of importance
  • not as psychologically damaging as suggested