Analysing Milgram's Experiment

Question 1

What is a strength of Milgram (1963)?

Answer 1

The strict control of variables meant that cause and effect could be established.

Question 2

What are the weaknesses of Milgram (1963)?

Answer 2

• Participants were in an artificial situations meaning the study has low ecological validity and thus cannot be generalised easily.
• Participants weren’t able to give informed consent as they didn’t know the real nature of the experiment.
• Participants weren’t told they could withdraw from the experiment.
• There was a lack of protection of participants who were visibly stressed during the study.
• Participants might have known they weren’t actually inflicting real shocks and gone along with what the experimenter wanted meaning the study has low internal validity.