component 2 Flashcards
kohlbergs methodology and procedure
75 american boys aged 10-16 and again between 22&28
a longitudinal study using interviews, reassessed every 3 years over a 12 year period
qualitative data collected
cross-cultural comparison: UK, Canada, turkey, Mexico, Taiwan
open ended questions in the form of a semi structured interview
should Heinz steal the drug? why and why not
kohlbergs findings
moral development can be split into three levels: preconventional, conventional and post conventional
each of these stages can be split into two substages, giving a total of 6 stages:
1. punishment and obedience orientation
2. instrumental-relativist orientation
3. good boy- good girl orientation
4. law and order orientation
5. social contract orientation
6. universal principles orientation
limitations of kohlbergs methodology
gave the boys hypothetical moral dilemmas, so lacks ecological validity
potential social desirability bias
kohlbergs conclusions
each stage of moral development comes one at a time and always in the same order
differences in speed of progression, perhaps due to external social factors. middle class and working class children move faster and further
this six stage theory of moral dvelopment isnt significantly impacted by widely ranging social, cultural and religious conditions, the only thing affected is the rate at which individuals progress through the sequence
milgram methodology and procedure
40 male self-selected volunteers aged between 20 and 50 including a variety of occupations such as factory workers, high school teachers, and businessmen
these people were also of different educational levels such as someone who hadnt finished elementary and someone who had professional degree
they were paid $4.50 regardless of whether they quit the study or not
there were 2 confederates: an experimenter and the learner
the participants drew lots with the confederate and always ended up as the teacher
he was told that he must administer electric shocks (fake) per wrong answer
maximum voltage of 450
milgram aims
testing the ‘germans are different’ hypothesis which suggested that the holocaust couldnt happen anywhere else in the world because germans are more likely to commit such activities.
wanted to discover whether ordinary people will obey legitimate authority even if it means they’re required to injure another person
milgram findings
before the study, milgram aksed psychology students how far they thought the participants would go. they estimated 4% would go to the maximum level
the main finding is that 65% of the participants continued to maximum level. far beyond what was marked as dangerous
only 5 participants (12.5%) stopped at 300 volts when the learner first objected
100% of participants went up to 300 volts
milgram conclusions
ordinary people are astonishingly obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane manner. this suggests that it is not evil people who commit evil crimes, but just ordinary people obeying orders.
in other words, crimes against humanity may be the outcome of situational rather than dispositional factors
Pascal Gino found himself thinking “good god hes dead” whilst others were sweating, trembling and stuttering.
independent groups design
2 separate groups, takes part in one condition
ideal for bigger groups
randomly allocated to the conditions
advantages of independent groups design
avoids order effects
less demand characteristics
disadvantages of independent groups design
more participants are needed for it than repeated measures design
differences between ppts in the groups may affect results
repeated measures design
one group of participants, take part in both conditions of the experiment
should be used when theres only a small number of participants
advantages of repeated measures design
avoids problem of participant variables
fewer people are needed
cheap and quick
disadvantages of repeated measures design
order effects are more likely to occur
demand characteristics more likely
matched pairs design
participants are matched in each condition for characteristics that may have an effect on their performance
lots of time needed
identical twins are useful
advantages of matched pairs design
reduces participants variables
avoids order effects
disadvantages of matched pairs design
very time consuming to find closely matched pairs
requires more particpants
field experiments
where an experiment takes place in the relevant field of research, natural, iv is still manipulated
advantages of field experiments
high ecological validity, behaviour more likely to reflect real life
less likelihood of demand characteristics affecting the results as participants may not know they’re being studied
