milgram Flashcards
design
controlled observation
took place in a lab at yale university
data gathered through observations made by both experimenters who were in the same room as ps
background
innocent people being slaughtered
carried out on a large scale because people were obeying authorities
history suggests that obedience is an engraved behavioural tendency that overrides ethics, empathy, moral values
WWII
the balkans conflict
conclusion
inhumane acts are done by “normal people”
people often obey others that have legitimate authority
people obey because of situational features, suspending their sense of authority and obey easily
sample
40 males
aged 20-50
from new haven area
obtained by newspapers and direct mail
ps were paid $4.50 for presenting themselves at the lab
results
40/40 ps continued to 300 volts
26/40 ps continued to full 450 volts (completely obeyed)
obedient ps showed relief after they had finished
strength of research method
a strength of using a controlled observation is it enables high levels of control. this is because it allows the research to be clearly and easily replicated through the standardised procedures used. all ps who were given the role of the teacher had to conduct a paired words test and had to administer increasingly high electric shocks for every wrong answer.
weakness of research method
a weakness of using a controlled observation is that demand characteristics can be introduced. this is through bias, essentially due to the fact that the ps could speculate the aim of the study (obedience) and more likely begin to act in a way that is more desirable to the experimenters - by obeying and administering increasingly high electric shocks all the way until the end.
strength of data collected
a strength of collecting quantitative data is that it is easier to compare and analyse with numerical, statistical data. this increases the replicability of the results as they are limited to short numbered data that showed how many ps obeyed the experimenter and how many disobeyed the experimenter.
a strength of collecting qualitative data is that it is rich in detail. this is because the results aren’t limited to short, statistical data meaning that things such as feelings and emotions can be studied - reseachers can identify how the ps felt about obeying or disobeying.
weakness of data collected
a weakness of collecting quantitative data is that it lacks detail. this is because the reseacher could possibly only focus on things that can statistically be measured - meaning that this type of data may not capture the complexity/diversity of why people decided to obey/disobey the experimenter, ignoring potential emotions and cultural reasoning.
A weakness of collecting qualitative data is that it is more time consuming, meaning a smaller sample would need to be used. This is because each ps is unique and would have different reasons behind why they obeyed the experimenter. Milgram focused on 40 ps out of the original sample meaning it is unrepresentative.
ethical considerations
one way the milgram study is unethical is through the ethical guideline of deception. this is because ps were deceived into believing that they were administering increasingly high electric shocks to the ‘learner’ when they weren’t actually giving them to real people.
Ethical through the ethical guideline of debrief. All ps were fully debriefed at the end of the study, being made aware the purpose of the study - to find out how people respond to instructions given by authorities. The ps were also offered counselling as the study was somewhat psychologically harmful
validity
High internal validity. This is because the study into obedience was conducted in controlled conditions, limiting the introduction of demand characteristics. All ps heard the same pre recorded responses to each shock level on the generator
there was low ecological validity. this is because it took place in a controlled environment, and the tasks were artificial - the ps weren’t giving increasingly high electric shocks to real people and recieving electric shocks for every questioned answered wrong in a paired test isn’t something that would take place in real life context.
reliability
there was low split half reliability. this is because the study into obedience could only be carried out once using the group of ps. if the study was conducted for a second time, it wouldn’t work as the ps were debriefed and made aware that they weren’t actually giving electric shocks to real people
sampling bias
there was a sampling bias. this is because the ps who took part in this study into obedience were self selected via advertisement of the study. this could introduce volunteer bias as the ps are most likely to have similar traits/characteristics as each other because they shared the same interests in the study into obedience.
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ethnocentrism
it is ethnocentric as it was only carried out in America. this makes it ethnocentric because the results that demonstrate levels of obedience is only collected from Americans who have an individualistic perspective of life. it cant be assumed that if this study was carried out in different countries who may have collectivist perspectives, the findings will be the same.
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