Core studies - Milgram - Paper 2 Flashcards
Aim
Investigate whether people would obey unethical authority
Test “Germans are different” theory
Research method
Controlled observation - no IV
Has been considered pre-test
Sample
40 men from the New Haven area
Aged 20-50
Recruited by newspaper ad/mail
Paid $4.50 for showing up
Pre test predictions
Psychology students/professional colleagues asked to estimate the amount who would administer the highest shock
Mean estimate 1.2%
Procedure
Ppts were assigned role of teacher via a rigged lottery and saw the “learner” strapped into the chair with electrodes on his arms
Ppts given 45v shock to simulate genuineness
Ppt sat in front of fake electric shock generator and tested learner on word pairs
Shock for every wrong answer, going up by 15v every time
Learner gave 3 wrong answers to every correct
Learner screamed, at 300v pounded on wall then after no other sounds
Ppt given prods to continue “please go on” or “you have no choice but to continue”
Ended either at 450v or if the ppt disobeyed
Debriefed afterwards
Findings
All ppts went to 300v
65% went to 450v (completion)
26 obedient, 14 disobedient
Reactions of ppts
Many showed signs of extreme stress during procedure - sweating, trembling, stuttering, nervous laughter
3 had uncontrollable seizures
Afterwards many showed signs of relief including sighing and reaching for cigarettes
Conclusions
People will obey legitimate authority figures even if the order goes against their moral beliefs
People obey because certain situational features lead them to adopt an agentic state
Individual differences such as personality influence the extent of obedience
Strengths
Standardised/replicable
Quantitative and qualitative data - construct validity
Weaknesses
Ethics - protection from harm, informed consent, deception, withdrawal
Sample can be considered unrepresentative - generalisability/ecological validity
