Chapter 2 - Milgram Study Of Obedience Flashcards
Why did milgram make this experiment in the USA ?
He wanted to see if people from the USA were as obedient as German soldiers from WW2
Describe the participants
40 males
20-50 years
Unskilled to professional
Which role was the participant always assigned
Always as the teacher, the learner was a voice recording of an actor
Describe the task the teacher had to do
Gave learner a list of word pairs to memorise, when the learner got this wrong, they gave them an electric shock increasing every time the learner got one wrong
What was the range of voltage from the shocks
15-450v
At 75v what is heard from learners room
Audible pain groan
After 330v what could be heard from the learners room
Nothing, it was silent.
What instructed the teachers to carry on
4 instructed prods from the experimenter in the white lab coat
What percentage of people administered the highest shock
65%
What did milgram predict percentage of teachers to go to maximum shock would be
3%
What percentage of participants administered a shock even when the learner said he had a compliant and wanted out
80%
Give a reason for why the figure was so high, why it was difficult to say no
Normative pressures
Authority figure present difficult to say no
How were the participants not protected from psychological harm
Extremely stressful situation, there was psychical evidence of distress within the study
Was there a right to withdraw ?!
It was difficult to withdraw due to to commands to comtinue, however this was necessary for nature of study
What was the element of deception in the study
It was advertised as a study about memory and learning, not obedience
This could of been necessary to avoid participant bias