Psychology

• Background to milgrams study

  Interwsted in how far people would go in obeying autority even if it involved harming others

  Interested in whether ordinary people would obey an authority figure which was a similar situation to of the nazis
• Milgrams aim


  To find out whether people would be obedient to authority even if it meant physically hurting others
• Milgrams method


  Controlled observation in a lab setting

  Conducted at Yale university

  Independent measures design
• Milgrams sample


  Volunteer sample of 40 mean between the ages of 20 and 50 from New haven Connecticut with a range of occupations from an advert in news or mailed to locals asking for participants amount memory and learning (paid $4.50)
• Milgrams procedure


  The participants were "randomly allocated" to be teachers while a stooge was the learner.

  Participants were told to administer voltage between 15-450V whenever the learner got a question wrong of the memory task

  When participants showed reluctance the researchers gave verbal prompts.
• Prods of milgrams procedure

  Please continue/ please go on

  The experiment required you to continue

  It is absolutely essential that you continue
• Milgram results


  65% when past 450v

  14 participants stopped earlier

  Mean voltage was 368v
• Milgram conclusions


  Situational factors affect obedience

  Individuals are more obedient to authority than expected

  People find that carrying out destructive acts triggers feelings of stress
• Strengths of milgrams experiment

  Controlled observation

  Level of control and standardisation was high meaning the research was more reliable

  Detailed design of the shock generator, increased validity because it convinced them that the shocks were real

  Carefully selected participants to ensure a range of ages, greater validity

  Qualitative measure to, easily comparable, conclusions could be easily drawn
• Weaknesses of milgrams experiment

  The participants were all male and from the same area therefore results are less generalisable to the target population
• Ethical issues of milgrams research

  Did not give informed consent

  Deception

  Participants were denied the right to withdraw due to the prods

  Participants went through psychological harm and distress
• Milgram link to key area


  Shows how pressure from another person can influence an individual
• Bocchiaro back ground


  Milgram showed that people are highly obedient to authority figure even when unethical

  Bocchiaro attempted to study the extent to which these individuals disobey authority and whistle blow
• Whistleblower


  An individual or group of individuals who expose the unlawful or unethical activity or behaviours of a person group of people or an organisation
• Aim of Bocchiaros study

  To study the people who disobey and whistle blow

  To understand personal and situational factors involved in disobedience

  Aimed to replicate Milgram method where individuals predicated the outcome of the study prior
• Bocchiaro method


  Lab experiment (cannot be classified as an experiment as there was no independent variable

  Conducted in a lab in Amsterdam university

  Two rooms used

  All timings were constant

  Dependant variables where whether the ps whistle blew obeyed or disobeyed and the score on the personality test HEXACO AND SVO
• Bocchiaro sampling


  Recruited by flyers in the campus cafeteria through volunteer sampling

  138 undergrads asked what they would do

  Main sample 149 who took part for €7 or course credits

  11 participants were removed as they were suspicious
• Bocchiaro procedure


  Experimenter presented an unethical and harmful procedure which they intend to replicate

  Ps had to write a statement to encourage selected ps to participate

  Had to indicate they had done it already and be positive

  Left along fro 7 minutes

  Room had a postbox in which ps could drop a form if they thought conducting sensory depreciation research is unethical

  8 pilot tests of 92 undergrads

  Entire session = 40 minutes
• Bocchiaro results


  First group 138 students

  Obey 3.6, disobey 31.9 and whistle blow 64.5

  Second group 149

  Obey 76.5, disobey 31.9 and whistle blow 9.4

  No individual differences were found except the extend of faith
• Bocchiaro conclusions


  People tend to obey to authority figured even if the request in unethical

  People act differently you how they claim they would behave

  Behaving in a moral manner is difficult
• Bocchiaro evaluation


  Lab study allows researcher to control aspects of the environment which increases internal validity of the study

  Standardised procedure, highly reliable and easy to replicate

  Right to withdraw was given and they were remained confidential

  Ps were put in a situation which may have caused them distress

  Questionnaires are highly subjective and carry ordinal data which may not be laid or reliable when repeated with the same participants
• Loftus and Palmer background


  Focuses on the area of memory and the eye witness testimony which a form of evidence used in court systems and whether it is accurate or not

  Based on bartletts schema theory b567yu8ijlk,
• Loftus and Palmer aim


  Investigate the way in which memory can be influenced by post event information
• Loftus and Palmer method

  Two lab experiments using independent measures design

  Experiment 1

  IV, how fast were they going when they... each other- smashed collided, bumped , hit and contacted

  DV how fast were the card going when they collided

  Experiment 2

  IV how fast were the cars going when they.. each other - smashed, hit and control

  DV the critical question of did u see any broken glass
• Loftus and Palmer sample

  Experiment 1= 45 participants.

  Experiment 2= 150 participants, (3 groups)

  Acquired through opportunity sampling
• Loftus & Palmer Procedure (Exp. 1)

  45 shown same 7 film clips

  After each clip ps were given a questionnaire asking them to describe the incident

  Critical question was how was were the cars going when they... each other (hit smashed, bumped and collided or contacted)
• Loftus and Palmer procedure (Exp. 2)


  150 shown one minute video with a four second crash with multiple cars

  Asked to describe what happened

  Critical question of how fast were the cars going when they... into each other

  50 asked smashed

  50 asked hit

  Rest were the control group

  Week later ps were asked another question air when contained the critical question of did you see any broken glass
• Loftus and Palmer results exp. 1

  Smashed 40.5

  collided 39.3

  bumped 38.1

  contacted 31.8
• Loftus and Palmer results exp. 2


  Saw broken glass

  Smashed 16

  Hit 7

  Control 6

  
  

  Did not see broken glass

  Smashed 34

  Hit 43

  Control 44
• Two types of memory

  Information of an event

  Information after an event
• Loftus and Palmer conclusion

  Two kinds of information which contribute to the creation of memories: information gained during an event and information gained after the event

  human memory is susceptible to change and decay

  Small changes in information can cause distortions in memory
• Loftus and Palmer evaluation

  Only considered information during and after NOT before

  Lab study allows researcher to have high control so high internal validity

  Ecological validity is low

  Application is similar to how the police and court system address eyewitness testimony so the study has greater applicability
• Grant et al background

  Focuses on context dependent memory

  Research based on golden and badderly who noticed that deep sea divers would forget things when underwater but recall them when surfaced
• Grant et al aim

  To demonstrate the positive affects of context dependant memory
• Grant et al method

  A lab experiment with independent measures

  IV reading condition

  DV reading time and performance on the multiple choice test and short answer test
• Grant et al sampling

  39 ps (40 originally but one was excluded as results were significantly different)

  8 experimenters recruited 5 ps each

  Age range 17-56

  Mean age 23.4
• Grant et al procedure

  Lasted around 30 mind

  Each experimenter took p through one of the for conditions

  Ps were read aloud the instructions of the study which describes it as a voluntary class project

  Ps were instructed to read the psychoimuiology article and said they will be tested

  ALL PS WORE HEADPHONES

  Reading times were recorded as a control measure

  Study with 2 min break hence test phase

  Test phase- short answer then multiple choice

  Tested in noisy or silent conditions

  After ps were debriefed
• Grant et al results


  Shows that performance was better when studying and testing in the same environment

  Memory and recall was better where context was the same
• Grant et al conclusions

  Context cues are important when retrieving memory and silent study is better
• Grant et al evaluation


  Ethics, ps were provided consent and voluntary participated, protected from harm and debriefed at the end

  Internal validity was high due to the high level of control

  Predictive validity, small sample limits the extend of which the finding can be used to predict future behaviour but there was a large age range which is good

  External validity low as it is not common to wear headphones in silence