Milgram

Question 1

Method -

Answer 1

Controlled observation
e study took place in a laboratory at Yale University so conditions could be controlled eg who was teacher / learner, the learner’s recorded

Question 2

Sample

Answer 2

40 male participants aged between 20 and 50 years, from the New Haven area were obtained by a newspaper advertisement and direct

mail solicitation which asked for volunteers to participate in a study of memory and learning at Yale University. There was a wide range of

occupations in the sample. Participants were paid $4.50 for simply presenting themselves at the laboratory.

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

Question 4

Results

Answer 4

26 participants were obedient, 14 disobedient/defiant.

• Many participants showed signs of extreme stress whilst administering the shocks eg sweating, trembling, stuttering, laughing nervously. 3 had full-blown uncontrollable seizures.
• On completion of the test many obedient participants heaved sighs of relief, mopped their brows, or nervously fumbled cigarettes. Some shook their head, apparently in regret; some remained calm throughout

Question 5

conclusions

Answer 5

•

Inhumane acts can be done by ordinary people.

•

People, will obey others whom they consider legitimate authority figures even if what they are asked to do goes against their moral beliefs.

•

People obey because certain situational features lead them to suspend their sense of autonomy and become an agent of an authority figure.

•

Individual differences, such as personality, influence the extent to which people will be obedient.

Question 6

Method - Strength

Answer 6

A strength of a controlled observation is that you have control over extraneous variables as participants are tested in a controlled environment.
This means that the results are likely to be more valid as it can be seen how the participants behaviour is affected by the conditions contrived by the experimenter.
In Milgram’s study it can be clearly see how the authority figure influenced the level of obedience shown by the participants in this study.

Question 7

Method - Weakness

Answer 7

A weakness is that controlled observations lack ecological validity.

This means that the behaviours observed may not be reflective ofreal lifebehaviours as they areobserved in controlled artificial environments such as a lab type environments.

In Milgram’s study they were tested at Yale university in a lab type setting with an unfamiliarauthorityfigure asking them to carry out an unfamiliar task-giving electric shocks to a stranger in response to a word task. The task and environment could be said to be unreflective of obedience in real life.

Question 8

Sampling Bias

Answer 8

This sample is difficult to make generalisation from due to it being biased.

This means that the results from the participants studied cannot be generalized to the wider population.

The sample was androcentric (all males) and therefore cannot be generalized to females and also they were all from the Stanford area. Also they were all volunteers which could make them atypical of the general population.

Question 9

Reliability - Strength

Answer 9

A strength of this study is that it hashigh internal reliability.

Internal reliability assesses the consistency of the measures within the study. If a study has high internal reliability you should be able to replicate it to check for external reliability also.

InMilgramsstudy there are a high level of controls, a standardised procedure and standardised instructions. The experimenter was told to reply with the sameprods and prompts”The experiment requires you to continue” which means that none of the participants received different responses which could affecttheir judgement.Alsothe learner always give 3 wrong answers and one right answer to ensure obedience is tested in the same way for allparticipantstherefore it should have internal reliability.