3.Obedience(Milgram) Flashcards
Aim?
To investigate if individuals would obey orders of an authority figure even if this led to negative consequences
Method
Lab experiment at Yale uni
Sample?
40 American males aged 20-50
How did Milgram advertise his experiment?
Placed an advert in a newspaper seeking volunteers for an experiment researching memory on learning
What role was the ppt given?
Once the ppt arrived they met another ‘ppt’ (who was actually a confed). The real ppt was always given the role of teacher and the confed learner.
What was the teachers job?
To administrate a learning task and give electric shocks to the learner (in another room) if they got the question wrong
What did the shocks start off at, go up in and go up to?
Started off at 15volts, went up in 15volts until 450volts
What prompts did the experiment use if the teacher refused to shock the learner?
‘’The experiment requires you continue’’
Findings?
All ppts went to at least 300volts with only 12.5% stopping at that point. 65% went to 450volts showing high levels of obedience
Conclusion?
Normal people are obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane way, it’s not necessarily evil people who commit crimes it can be normal people just following orders