Milgram Flashcards
Where from Milgram’s participants from?
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
What was Milgram’s method design?
controlled observation
laboratory
self report
What was Milgram’s sampling technique?
self selected
advert in local paper + mailshot in the post
How much were Milgram’s participants paid?
$4.50
How old were Milgram’s participants?
20-50 yrs
How many participants were in Milgram’s study?
40
What were Milgram’s participants background?
varying background of skilled and unskilled workers
none were current high school/college students
What was Milgram’s ‘experimenters’ characteristics?
31yrs old
stern biology teacher
in a technicians lab coat
confederate
What was Milgram’s ‘learners’ characteristics?
47yrs old
accountant
trained for role
confederate
What was the background to Milgram’s study?
Nazi’s obedience during WWII and if German people were more obedient as a culture
What was the aim of Milgram’s study?
to investigate obedience to authority even with a destructive command
What were key features of Milgram’s shock generator?
voltage from 15V-450V increasing in increments of 15V
labels describing the voltage intensity (eg. XXX)
What did Milgram do to convince the participant they were giving real shocks?
give them a real 45V shock on the wrist
When were Milgram’s participants told to shock the learner?
for every wrong response the learner gave
What were Milgram’s participants told the aim of the study was?
to study how punishment affected learning
What was Milgram’s paired associate task?
teacher would read a series of word pairs to the learner then would read a first word with 4 possible answers
What did Milgram’s experimenter tell the participants before the study?
“although the shocks can be extremely painful, they will cause no permanent tissue damage”
How did Milgram’s learner respond during the study?
~3 wrong answers to every correct
no sign of protest until 300V+315V
pounded on wall + refused to answer from then on
How did Milgram’s experimenter respond to participants?
prod 1 - “please continue” “please go on”
prod 2 - “the experiment requires you go on”
prod 3 - “it is absolutely essential you go on”
prod 4 -“you have no other choice, you must go on”
“although the shocks can be extremely painful, they will cause no permanent tissue damage”
How did Milgram record behaviour?
taped
photographs taken through 1 way mirrors
notes taken on any unusual behaviour
How did Milgram debrief his participants?
interviewed + asked open ended questions
given psychological tests
procedures taken so they would leave the lab in a good mental state
friendly reconciliation with the learner
How many of Milgram’s participants went to 450V?
65%
How many of Milgram’s participants went to 300V?
100%
How many stopped at the critical point (300V)?
5/40 or 12.5%
What qualitative data was found in Milgram’s study?
many showed signs of nervousness
“sweat, tremble, stutter, bite lips, groan, dig fingernails into flesh”
many verbalised their stress
3pps had uncontrollable seizures
14pps had nervous laughter
How did Milgram get a predicted outcome for his study? How many people did they think would obey?
asked 14 psychology undergraduate students to predict how many people would obey out of 100
expected no more than 3% (3/100)
What area is Milgram’s study in?
social area
Where did Milgram’s study take place?
Yale University lab
