Burger- CONTEMPORARY STUDY (pack 1 obedience)

Question 1

What was the aim of Burger’s study?

Answer 1

To partially replicate Milgram’s study

Question 2

what does ‘partially replicating’ Milgram’s study allow him to do?

Answer 2

1. compare to the original study and see whether obedience levels have changed
2. Protection of participants unlike Milgram

Question 3

At what point in voltage does Burger decide he would stop the study?

Answer 3

150v as it is the ‘point of no return’ based upon Milgram’s studies

Question 4

How were participants found?

Answer 4

flyers placed in local advertisements and were told they’d be given $50 to take part

Question 5

What variation of Milgram’s is Burger replicating?

Answer 5

Variation 5 (heart condition)

Question 6

what was the first stage of the screening process for Burger’s study?

Answer 6

1. people who had studied more than two psychology classes
2. asked about physical and psychological health and whether they had suffered any childhood trauma (30% excluded)

Question 7

what was the second stage of the screening process for Burgers’ study?

Answer 7

led by two clinical psychologists who asked ppts to complete a number of scales and questionnaires
e.g- demographic sheet, beck anxiety inventory

then they were interviewed by a clinical psychologist (123 interviewed and 47 excluded after this) still received $50

Question 8

what was the sample in Burger’s study?

Answer 8

final sample of 70 people- 29 males and 41 females
20-81 years

Question 9

What were 4 main parts of the procedure for Burger’s first variation study?

Answer 9

1. ppt split into two groups and told they could keep the $50 even if they withdrew
2. The teacher was then told about reading out the word pairs and increase electrical shock at which point the confederate revealed he had a heart problem
3. given a sample shock of 15v unlike 45v in Milgram’s
4. At 150v the learner said my hearts starting to bother me, if the teacher wanted to carry on, experiment stopped and debrief began

Question 10

what were 4 parts to the procedure of the modelled refusal condition?

Answer 10

1. two confederates were used instead of 1
2. The second confederate posed as a ppt and was the same gender as the real ppt
3. teacher confed took lead and began asking questions
4. At 90v the confed teacher said he didn’t know about this, was then prompted and then refused to carry on, experimenter asked teacher 2 to carry on

Question 10

What was the other condition that Burger replicated?

Answer 10

modelled refusal condition

Question 11

what were the results for the baseline condition?

Answer 11

70% prepared to continue after 150v

Question 12

what were the results for the modelled refusal condition?

Answer 12

63.3% prepared to continue after 150v

Question 13

How does the baseline condition compare to Milgram’s study?

Answer 13

Milgram- 82.5% continued past 150v so the results are very similar

Question 14

What were two key conclusions from Burger’s study?

Answer 14

1. Time and changes in societies culture did not have an affect on obedience levels
2. seeing refusal to obey did not affect obedience

Question 15

How does the issue and debate of how psychological understanding has changed over time, relate to Burger’s study?

Answer 15

How the theory has changed
treatment has changed
technology has changed

Question 16

how is Burger’s study reliable?

Answer 16

Used almost exactly the same procedure as Milgram in terms of standardised procedure. The replication Burger carried out with his own pps allowed him to compare his own findings with Milgram’s to check whether they were consistent, therefore increasing the reliability.

Question 17

Evaluation of the validity of Burger’s study

Answer 17

Using a lab experiment allowed burger to control the procedure
but
also meant that the task of administering shocks in a word pair task is unlike real life situations where orders must be obeyed, therefore lowering the ecological validity of his findings.

Question 18

generalisability?

Answer 18

Burger’s sample of 70 people is larger than Milgram’s sample of 40. It covers a wider age range (Milgram recruited 20-50 year olds, Burger 20-81 year olds) and two thirds of Burger’s sample were women, whereas Milgram’s were all male.

-Burger excluded a lot of people from his final sample, for example people with emotional issues or some education in Psychology