Contemporary: Burger (2009)

Question 1

What was the aim of burgers study?

Answer 1

To see wether Milgram’s findings were era-bound and wether gender affects obedience.

Question 2

What was the type of experiment of burgers study?

Answer 2

Lab experiment

Question 3

What was burgers sample?

Answer 3

70 adults, 29 men and 41 women aged 20 to 81. 60% had university degrees, 55% were Caucasian 4% black

Question 4

What was burgers sample type?

Answer 4

Volunteer through advertisement paid $50

Question 5

What changes did burger make in his replication of Milgram’s?

Answer 5

• to avoid high levels of anxiety burger stopped the shocks at 150V as he argued that 79% that went to 150V went to the full 450V
• 2 step screening process excluding mental problems (anxiety)
• test shock was given to ppt but lowered to 15V (from 45V)
• ppts we’re debriefed immediately after and told it was fake

Question 6

What were the findings of Burgers study?

Answer 6

The obedience rate was slightly lower but 70% went to 150V compared to 82.5% in Milgram’s
Women were slightly more likely to go up to 150V

Question 7

What were the conclusions of burgers study?

Answer 7

The findings show that Milgram’s findings aren’t era-bound nor are they androcentric (gender biased)

Question 8

Evaluate G of burgers study

Answer 8

Burgers sample of 70 is larger than Milgram’s 40 and included women.
Burger also excluded people with emotional issues or those with some education of psychology.

Question 9

Evaluate R of burgers study

Answer 9

Burger followed Milgram’s script wherever possible and used the same confederates every time.
He also filmed the whole thing which adds to the Inter-rater reliability because other people can view his ppts behaviour.

Question 10

Evaluate A of burgers study

Answer 10

+ Used in pilot training. Training co pilots to question pilot in charges orders (reduce 20% of plain crashes)

Question 11

Evaluate V of burgers study

Answer 11

It stills lacks ecological validity because the task is artificial. In real life teachers do not give electric shocks to learners.
However stopping the study at 150v may be invalid as those participants may have dropped out later and not gone the full way.

Question 12

Evaluate E of burgers study

Answer 12

Burger screened out ppts who were likely to be distressed by the study.
The study was approved by the university ethics panel.
Also reduced the test shock to a mild 15v to reduced physical harm and lowered the 450v limit to 150v which reduced many of Milgram’s ppts to tears.