L5 - Obedience to Authority Flashcards
what is obedience
obedience is BEHAVING AS INSTRUCTED TO BY AN AUTHORITY FIGURE. Authority figures have STATUS and/or POWER OVER OTHERS
MILGRAM PROCEDURE PT 1
MILGRAM placed an ADVERT IN A NEWSPAPER asking for MALE PPS to take part in a study about the EFFECT OF PUNISHMENT ON LEARNING.
40 pps involved at the PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF YALE UNIVERSITY. They were met by the experimenter who wore a WHITE LAB COAT (this was a confederate) and 47 YEAR OLD MAN ‘MR WALLACE’ who they were TOLD WAS ANOTHER PP (actually another confederate) who PRETENDED TO HAVE A WEAK HEART. They randomly were assigned the role of teacher or learner but it was RIGGE so that MR WALLACE ALWAYS BECAME THE LEARNER and naiive pp was teacher.
PP was told to PUNISH THE LEARNER by administering an ELECTRIC SHOCK if they made a mistake on a MEMORY TEST - increasing the voltage each time the learner made a mistake
MILGRAM PROCEDURE PT 2
learner taken to SEPARATE ROOM and hooked up to ELECTRIC SHOCK MACHINE, teacher was in ANOTHER ROOM with the CONTROLS AND THE EXPERIMENTER. The controls were FAKE but VERY CONVINCING. Each switch on the machine had different voltage STARTING AT 15V and INCREASING IN INCREMENTS OF 15V to a level of 450V. As the shocks became more severe Mr Wallace DEMANDED TO BE RELEASED from the experiment, SCREAMED, KICKED THE WALL, COMPLAINED ABOUT HIS WEAK HEART, refused to answer the questions and finally went silent.
MILGRAMS PROCEDURE PT 3
Experimenter continued with the experiment, when the teacher SHOWED RELUCTANCE to shock the learner, the experimenter prompted him to continue, using one of 4 prods:
1) please continue
2) the experiment requires that you continue
3) it is absolutely essential that you continue
4) you have no choice, you must continue
MILGRAM’S FINDINGS
100% of pps gave shocks UP TO 300V, 65% of pps gave shocks ALL THE WAY UP TO 450V - pps felt a HIGH LEVEL OF STRESS during the experiments, showing behaviours such as SWEATING, TREMBLING and in some cases NERVOUS OR HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER. Despite this, most were OBEDIENT AND WILLING to inflict POTENTIALLY LETHAL shocks on a man with a WEAK HEART.
- DECEPTION/LACK OF INFORMED CONSENT
pps were DECEIVED about the true nature of of the experiment as they were told it was about memory when it was REALLY ABOUT OBEDIENCE (they didnt give their informed consent to take part).
PPS were also LED TO BELIEVE that Mr Wallace was real, had a weak heart and the shocks they were giving him were real - however this DECEPTION WAS NECESSARY to AVOID DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS and therfore INCREASE THE VALIDITY of the study
- PPS DISTRESS
during the experiment the pps became INCREASINGLY DISTRESSED (some became hysterical) and may have even thought they killed Mr Wallace - they were NOT PROTECTED FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM
However Milgram DIDNT EXPECT HIS PPS TO OBEY and so this PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANTCIPATED
- RIGHT TO WITHDRAW COMPROMISED
Several pps ASKED TO LEAVE THE EXPERIMENT but were told that they were NOT ALLOWED; this VIOLATED THEIR RIGHT TO WITHDRAWfrom the experiment
+ COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Despite the ehthical issues in Milgram’s experiment, after CONDUCTING A COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS, many psychologists believe that the STUDY WAS WORTHWHILE as it has taught us NOT TO JUST OBEY orders blindly and TAUGHT US TO BE MORE RESPONSBILE over our actions.
pps DID NOT EXPERIENCE ANY LONG TERM PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM and 84% of them said they were HAPPY TO TAKE PART and had LEARNT SOMETHING from the experience
- UNREPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE
the SAMPLE IS UNREPRESENTATIVE as all of the pps were WHITE AMERICAN MALES - therefore the results CANNOT BE GENERALISE TO WOMEN (gender bias) or OTHER CULTURES (cultural bias).
However this study has since been REPLICATED with women and the obedience rates were NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT
