Milgram

• Milgram found that 65% of his participants continued to deliver the highest level shock which was labelled 'danger severe'.
• The Milgram experiment was conducted in 1963 and involved participants being asked to give electric shocks to another participant (who was actually an actor) who would make mistakes during a learning task. The real aim of this experiment was to investigate whether people would continue to administer these shocks despite hearing screams and protests from the other participant.
• Aim?

  To see if people would obey orders from an authority figure and give shocks to another person
• Sample?

  40 males aged 20-50 who responded to a newspaper advert to take part in a study about punishment for $4.50
• Procedure?

  Participants arrived at Yale university and took part in a fixed draw where the participant was always the teacher and the research confederate (Mr Wallace) was always the learner. They were given a sample shock of 45V and instructed to give electric shocks in 15V increments for each incorrect answer. Once the 300V shock was given Mr Wallace stopped pounding on the wall. If participants hesitated standardised prods such as please continue were used. If participants still refused the experiment was over and the final voltage was recorded
• Results?

  100% administered shocks of 300V and 65% administered the maximum 450V shock.
• One strength is that Milgram had a standardised procedure as the same script was used each time along with the same shocks. This increases the experiment’s reliability.
• Another strength is that the sample was obtained through volunteer sampling in an ad. This means no experimenter bias as self selecting sample.
• One weakness is that the sample is all males, so the study is not generalisable to the whole population.
• Another weakness is that the study lacked ecological validity as you don’t typically get asked to shock people. This means findings about obedience can‘t be generalised to the real world.
• Experiment 7 was telephonic instructions
• Experiment 10 was run down office block
• Experiment 13 was ordinary man giving orders
• Aim of 7 was to see whether proximity had an impact on obedience
• Aim of 10 was to see if location/ Legitimacy had an impact on obedience
• Aim of 13 was to see if authority and status had an impact on obedience
• Experiment 7 (telephone results)

  Obedience levels dropped to 22.5% and participants lied to the experimenter about increasing the voltage.
• Experiment 10 (run-down results)

  Obedience dropped to 47.5% along with participants asking questions and showing more doubts.
• Experiment 13 (ordinary Man)

  Obedience dropped to 20%