Explanations for obedience: Milgram Flashcards
Def of obedience
Following a direct order from a figure of authority to make sure we don’t end up with some type of punishment
Aim of milgrams baseline study
To investigate whether ordinary people will obey in extreme situations
Milgrams baseline study participants
40 male volunteered participants paid £4.50 and told they would be paid this even if they quit during the study
Milgrams baseline study procedure - step 1
Experimenter introduced ps to other ps (who were actually confederates)
Milgrams baseline study procedure - step 2
Randomly allocated, confederate was connected to electric shock machine and p taken into adjoining room
Milgrams baseline study procedure - step 3
Had to ask a confederate questions and administer increasingly long electric shocks every time question was answered wrong
Milgrams baseline study procedure - step 4
P wasn’t actually shocking confederate but thought they were, experimenter had 3 prompts to try and get him to continue
Milgrams baseline study procedure - step 5
Experimenter ended when p still refused to go on after the three prompts or they reached to the top voltage of 450v
Milgrams baseline study: 4 evaluation points
- informed consent
- research support - game of death
- low validity
- research support - puppies
Milgrams baseline study: elaboration of informed consent
- he breaches informed consent meaning they haven’t been fully informed about what they are expected to do and consent to doing it
- ps were told they were doing a memory experiment instead of consenting to real aims
- 3 ps had seizures as a result of exceeding stress levels
Milgrams baseline study: elaboration of research support, game of death
- game of death TV show paid ps to give electric shocks they believed to be real but were actually fake
- 80% of ps on the show went to maximum voltage
- supports milgrams original findings increasing reliability bc shows consistency
Milgrams baseline study: elaboration of low validity
- Milgram wasn’t actually measuring what he was meant to
- a study by Perry listened to milgrams recordings and found that only 50% of ps believed electric shocks were real
- this means behaviour he was testing wasn’t real - demand characteristics
Milgrams baseline study: elaboration of puppy research support
- electrocuting real puppies, despite stress of animals
- 100% females delivered shock
- this shows milgrams feelings are accurate despite the fact that shocks were fake, meaning it gives milgrams findings higher validity
Def situational variable
Is a feature of the immediate, physical and social environment that can influence someone’s behaviour
Original experiment obedience rate
65%
Obedience rate when venue was moved to less prestigious location
46.5%
Obedience rate when teacher and learner in same room
40% - can see harm you’re giving
Obedience rate when experimenter in lab coat pulled away and replaced with ordinary member of public
20%
3 situational variables
- proximity
- location
- uniform
Meaning of proximity
- proximity to learner and proximity to experimenter
- the closer to the learner the more obedience
- less exposed to effects of learner
Meaning of location
Less obedience when the venue is not as prestigious
Meaning of uniform
Less obedience when the experimenter doesn’t have an official uniform (white coat)
Situational variables: 4 evaluation points
- research support - Bickman
- findings have been replicated in other cultures
- milgrams variations lack internal validity
- Milgram controlled his variables very closely
Situational variables: elaboration of research support - Bickman
- Bickman carried out a field experiment in New York, 3 confederates were asked at different times by passers buyers to pick up litter
- people were 2x as likely to obey the confederate dressed in security guard than the person dressed in the jacket
- supports the role of uniform as a situational factor in obedience which adds validity to milgrams findings
