LS6 - Obedience To Authority Milgram

Question 1

What Is Obedience?

Answer 1

A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority who has the power to punish when there’s disobedient behaviour being shown.

Question 2

Example Of Obedience

Answer 2

When 6 million people people were systematically slaughtered on command by the Nazis during Hitler’s regime. The defence for many of the war criminals was that they were only following orders.

Question 3

The Purpose Of Milgram’s Experiment

Answer 3

To test the Germans are different hypothesis, which is a dispositional explanation. Milgram didn’t believe this and thought anyone in the same situation would’ve done the same thing i.e. a situational explanation.

Question 4

Dispositional Explanation

Answer 4

An explanation that argues that the cause of behaviour is believed to result from the persons own personality/characteristics.

Question 5

Aim Of Milgram’s (Year) Experiment

Answer 5

1963, To investigate the level of obedience participants would show when an authority figure tells them to administer electric shocks and to test the Germans are different hypothesis.

Question 6

Procedure Of Milgram’s Experiment

Answer 6

Newspaper ad for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale University, volunteer sampling method. 40 male participants took part and were paid $4 hour for what they thought was a memory & learning study. The pp was paired with a confederate and drew lots to find who would be the ‘learner’ and ‘teacher’, the draw was fixed for the confederate to be the learner (Mr Wallace), who was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arm which the pp saw. When asked of any medical conditions Mr Wallace replied a minor heart condition. The pp was taken into a room with a shock generator and a row of switches. The pp was told to read out pairs of words that the learner had to remember, an incorrect answer or no response they were given an electric shock , the voltage of which was increased each time. When the pp asked the experimenter for advice he was given 4 standard prods. If the participants continued to disobey after Prod 4, the experiment was terminated.

Question 7

Stage Responses For The Learner

Answer 7

180 volts - The learner shouted he couldn’t stand the pain.
300 volts - he begged to be released.

315 volts - There was silence.

Question 8

The 4 Prods

Answer 8

Prod 1 - ‘Please Continue’
Prod 2 - The experiment requires that you continue

Prod 3 - It is absolutely essential that you continue
Prod 4 - You have no other choice, you must go on

Question 9

Milgram Predictions

Answer 9

2% of people would shock to the highest people level, but the majority would quit early on. His students predicted no more than 3% would continue to 450 volts.

Question 10

Milgram Results (Stats)

Answer 10

All participants shocked up to 300 volts and 65% of participants all the way up to 450 results. Many participants showed signs of nervousness and tension, 14 out of 40 participants showed nervous laughing fits. 3 participants showed uncontrollable seizures. All participants were debriefed and when they answered a follow-up questionnaire 84% reported that they felt glad to have participated.

Question 11

Milgram Conclusion

Answer 11

Normal ordinary people will obey authority even if their actions may be detrimental. thus the hypothesis that the “germans are different’ was not supported.

Question 12

Milgram Strengths

Answer 12

Good External Validity.

Hofling Et Al (1966) - Obedient Nurses.

Question 13

Good External Validity (+
)

Answer 13

Although it was in a lab, the experiment shows the relationship between the authority figure (experimenter) and the participant, which reflected real life authority.

Question 14

Holding Et Al (year) obedient nurses (+)

Answer 14

1966, 22 nurses working at various American hospitals received telephone calls from confederate (Dr Smith Psychiatric Department), instructing them to give his patient (Mr Jones) 20mg of a made up drug called Astrofen, and he’d sign the authorisation form after because he was in a hurry. The Astrofen clearly stated 10mg was the max dose, so they’d ignore the daily dose and break rules by not getting authorisation if they gave the Astrofen. 21 out of 22 nurses complied without hesitation and 11 later said that they had not noticed the dosage discrepancy.

Question 15

Weaknesses Of Milgram Experiment

Answer 15

Low Internal Validity.

Ethical Issues.

Question 16

Low Internal Validity (-)

Answer 16

Orne & Holland (1968) argued that the participants behaved the way they did because they guessed that they weren’t giving real electric shocks meaning that the study is not measuring what it tends to measure thus lacking internal validity. Perry’s (2013) research confirms this. She listened to tapes of Milgram’s pps and many of them expressed doubts on whether the shocks were real or not however Milgram himself reported that 70% of the participants believed that the shocks were real.

Question 17

Ethical Issues (-)

Answer 17

Baumrind (1964) was extremely critical of the ways Milgram deceived his participants e.g. Milgram made his participants believe that the roles of teacher and learner were purely randomly allocated when in reality the participant was always the teacher. Also the fact that Milgram made his participants believe that the shocks were real. Baumrind believed that deception was seen as a betrayal of trust that could damage the reputation of psychologists and their research. They weren’t fully confirmed of the nature of the study. It was made very difficult to withdraw. Participants were put in an extremely stressful situation which could cause long-term psychological harm.