SI - Milgram

• Procedure

  40 male ppts - volunteer sample for a memory study

  ppts drew lots for their roles, confederate always as the learner, the true ppt as the teacher

  Experimenter wore a lab coat

  They were told it was a word association task, if the learner made a mistake they must administer electric shocks (fake) from 15v-450v(severe shock)

  If they felt unsure about continuing they used four prods e.g. please continue/the experiment requires you to continue.
• Findings

  • no ppt stopped before 300v
  • 65% continued to 450v
  • observations indicated ppts showed extreme tension (sweat/tremble/dig nails into hands) and 3 had seizures
• :( lack internal validity 


  Orne & Holland suggest ppts guessed electric shocks were fake, so Milgram was not testing what he intended to test.
• :) However, Sheridan & King 


  found their ppts gave real shocks to a puppy, 54% males and 100% females, delivered what they thought was a fatal shock. So the obedience in Milgrams study might be genuine, 70% Milgrams ppts beleived the shocks were genuine.

  Therefore, it can be argued to have internal validity/face validity.
• :) External Validity 


  Milgram argued the lab based relationship between experimenter and ppt reflected wider real life authority relationships.

  Hofling found levels of obedience in nurses on a hospital ward to unjustified demands by doctors over the phone were very high. 21/22 nurses administered an unsafe dosage of a medication to a patient, despite warning labels.

  Therefore, the processes of obedience in Milgrams study can be generalised.
• :( Ethical Issues


  Milgrams study has been criticised by many psychologists as having extreme ethical issues.

  1. deception - ppts believed the allocation was random, but it was fixed - also believed the electric shocks were real
  2. protection from harm - ppts showed extreme tension and some even had uncontrollable seizures during the experiment
• :) Cost Benefit Analysis 


  However, we must look at it as a cost benefit analysis; many believe the temporary distress and deception of the ppts is outweighed by the contribution to psychology and the notion of blind obedience. Such research has explained/given insight to such atrocities as the Holocaust. Furthermore, it was necessary to deceive ppts to reduce demand characteristics and it led to the creation of ethical guidelines which at the time hadn’t been introduced.