Lesson 5 - Obedience to Authority

Question 1

Obedience

Answer 1

Behaving as instructed by an authority figure

Authority figures have status and/or power over others

Question 2

Milgram (1963) Procedure (Introduction)

Answer 2

Placed advert in newspaper asking for male participants in study of effect of punishment on learning
40 participants invited to Yale University met by confederate experimenter in white lab coat
Introduced to confederate Mr Wallace who was said to have a weak heart

Question 3

Milgram (1963) Procedure (Roles)

Answer 3

Naive participant and Mr Wallace asked to pick a piece of paper at random to decide roles
All pieces had teacher but Mr Wallace acted to have learner
Participant told to punish learner if mistake was made on a memory test through an electric shock, increasing voltage after each mistake

Question 4

Milgram (1963) Procedure (Study)

Answer 4

Learner hooked up to electric shock machine in front of teacher
Teacher put into different room
Learner unhooked himself from machine once teacher left
Electric shock machine and controls were fake
Voltage started from 15 increasing by 15 till 450
As shocks increased, learner demanded to be released, screams, kicked wall, complained about weak heart, refused to answer questions then went silent (dead?)

Question 5

Milgram (1963) Procedure (Experimenter Pressure)

Answer 5

Experimenter ensured teacher continued with experiment
When teacher refused, experimenter prompted him to continue:
“Please continue”
“The experiment requires you to continue”
“It is absolutely essential that you continue”
“You have no choice, you must continue”

Question 6

Milgram (1963) Findings

Answer 6

100% of participants gave shocks to 300 volts
65% of participants went until 450 volts
Participants felt high stress, showed sweating, trembling and anxious and hysterical laughter
Most were obedient and willingly inflicted potentially lethal shocks to a man with a weak heart

Question 7

Milgram (1963) Evaluation
Ethics
Negative

Answer 7

Participants deceived about nature of experiment
Told it was about memory, not obedience
=> No informed consent
Necessary to prevent demand characteristics
Increased validity

Question 8

Milgram (1963) Evaluation
Psychological Harm
Negative

Answer 8

Participants became extremely distressed/hysterical
Thought they killed Mr Wallace
Not protected from psychological harm
Milgram did not expect participants to obey => harm could not have been anticipated

Question 9

Milgram (1963) Evaluation
Rights
Negative

Answer 9

Several participants asked to leave experiment were were told they were not allowed
Violates right to withdraw from experiemennt

Question 10

Milgram (1963) Evaluation
Sample
Negative

Answer 10

Gender biased - all males
Culturally biased - all white Americans
Cannot be generalised to women or other cultures
However, study has been replaced with women and obedience rates were not significantly different

Question 11

Milgram (1963) Evaluation
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Positive

Answer 11

Despite ethical issues, psychologists believe study was worthwhile after conducting a cost benefit analysis
Participants did not suffer true long-term emotional disturbances
Most (84%) said they were happy to take part and learn something important from study

Question 12

Milgram Evaluation Points

Answer 12

Ethics Negative
Psychological Harm Negative
Rights Negative
Sample Negative

Cost Benefit Analysis Positive