Conformity: Milgrams Research Into Obediance

Question 1

Outline milgrams sample

Answer 1

• Milgram recruited 40 male ppts through newspaper adverts
• the ad said he was looking for participants for a memory study
• ppts recruited between 20-50 years + their jobs ranged from unskilled to professional
• ppts offered £4.50 to take part

Question 2

Outline milgrams procedure

Answer 2

• rigged draw for role of ppts - confed ‘mr wallace’ was always learner while the ppt was the ‘teacher’
• there was also an experimenter (another confed)
• learner strapped to a chair in one room, teacher was required to give learner an increasing severe electric shock each time they made a mistake of a learning task
• shock level started at 15 and rose to 450 volts
• at 300V learner banged on wall and gave no response, no response was to be treated as a wrong answer
• if the teacher was hesitant about continuing, the ‘ experimenter’ used 4 prods

Question 3

Outline the findings of milgrams study

Answer 3

• no ppts stopped below 300V
• 65% continued to the highest level (450 volts)
• researchers noted that the teachers showed signs of distress: sweating, shaking etc.
• 3 had ‘full blown uncontrollable seizures’
  Ppts debriefed and assured their behaviour was normal, 84% reported they were glad to have taken part

Question 5

What are the three evaluation points for milgrams research

Answer 5

• low internal validity
• high external validity
• supporting replication

Question 6

Outline ‘low internal validity’ as an evaluation point for milgrams study

Answer 6

• Orne and Holland - argued ppts behaved the way they did because they did not believe in the set up
• they guessed it was not real electric shocks so milgram was not testing what he intended to
• however, Sheridan and king conducted a similar study where real shocks were issued to a puppy - despite the real shock ,54% males and 100% of females delivered what they thought was a fatal shock

Question 7

Outline ‘high external validity ’ as an evaluation point for milgrams study

Answer 7

• the central feature of the study was the relationship between the authority figure and the participant
• milgrams argued the lab environment accurately reflected wider authority relationships in real life
• Hofling et al - studied nurses on a hospital ward and found high levels of obedience to unjustified demands by doctors (21/22 nurses obeyed)

Question 8

Outline ‘supporting replication’ as an evaluation point for milgrams study

Answer 8

• ‘the game of death’ is a documentary about reality tv, presented on French television in 2010
• it includes a replication of milgrams study - ppts paid to give (fake) electric shocks to another participant when asked to by the presenter
• 80% ppts delivered the maximum shock of 460V