Milgram Flashcards
What is the Methodology of Milgram (7 key facts)
Study was conducted in a laboratory.
40 males between 20 and 50 years old.
Volunteer Sample from newspaper advertisement.
Paid £4.50 for participation (and that this was received for turning up, he could leave and still recieve)
The men believed that they were to participate in a study of memory and learning (the study was actually studying levels of obedience).
The educational levels of the men also varied from one who had not finished elementary school, to those who had doctorates and degrees.
The study was a controlled observation that took place in a lab at Yale University.
What was the first stage of the procedure of milgram?
Firstly:
When the PP’s arrived, they were greeted by the experimenter, a 31 year old man in a grey lab coat.
Another ‘participant’ was at the lab, a a 47 year old accountant named MrWalace.
The PP’s then drew slips of paper to decide which of them would play the role of teacher and learner
however this draw was rigged to where the PP would always be assigned the teacher role.
What was the second stage of the procedure of milgram?
Immediately after the draw, the teacher and learner were taken to an adjacent room, the confederate learner was then strapped to an ‘electric chair’ and an electrode was placed on the learners wrist.
Instructions Milgram gave to Mr Wallace (confederate) – he was told to give approximately three wrong answers to every correct one. Mr Wallace was also told to make set responses:
What was the third stage of the procedure of milgram?
The participant / teacher was then taken to an adjoining room which had a shock machine in. The shock machine had 30 switches starting at ‘slight shock’ (15 volts) all the way up to ‘XXX’ (450 volts).
The PP (teacher) was also given a test shock of 15 volts to prove it worked.
What was the fourth stage of the procedure of milgram?
The ‘experimenter’ (a man in a grey coat) acted as the authority figure and gave the teacher a sample shock to demonstrate that the machine was real. The experimenter remained in the same room as the teacher (participant).
What were the instructions given to the teacher (PP)
he was told to administer a shock when the learner gave a wrong answer and to increase the voltage each time as well as announcing the amount of the volts that they were about to administer.
The learner was told to make no comment or protest until the shock level of 300 volts was reached. At this point he should pound on the wall but thereafter make no further comment.
What were the instructions given to the experimenter
Instructions Milgram gave to experimenter – he was told to respond to any hesitation from the teacher with four standard prods: * Please continue. * The experiment requires you to continue. * It’s absolutely essential that you continue. * You have no other choice; you must go on.
Some PP’s were also told ‘although the shock may be painful, there is no permeant tissue damage so go on’
What happened after the research was completed?
After the research was completed, the teacher was thoroughly debriefed, which included the experimenter reuniting the teacher and learner. They were then interviewed about their experience in the study.
What were the findings of Milgram?
Before the study Milgram surveyed 14 Yale University students who predicted just 3% of PP’s would go all the way to 450 volts.
However, ALL of real participants went to at least 300 volts and 65% continued until the full 450 volts.
There were a number of signs of extreme tension displayed by 14 participants. These were things such as:
- nervous laughter and smiling
- sweating
- stuttering
- biting their lip
- digging their fingernails into their flesh.
Additionally, 3 PP’s had full-blown uncontrollable seizures, one of which’s had a convulsion so violent that then research had to be stopped.
What were Milgram’s Conclusions?
Milgram concluded that the participants found it difficult to disobey due to the circumstances that the participants were in.
He suggested 13 elements in this situation that had contributed the their level of obedience:
1) The location of the research (prestigious uni)
2) PP’s accumed the experimenter knew what he was doing and should be followed. (authority)
3) PP’s did not want to disrupt the study as they felt under obligation to the experimenter to take part as they volunteered.
4) It was a novel situation for the participant who therefore didn’t know how to behave. If it has been possible to discuss the situation with others the PP’s might have behaved differently
5) The PP’s had very little time to resolve the conflict at 300 volts and he didn’t know that the learner would remain silent for the rest of the experiment.
6) The Participant assumed that the discomfort caused was minimal and temporary and that the scientific gains were important.
7) There was a conflict was between two deeply ingrained tendencies, between choosing not to harm someone and to obey those with authority.
4 points of Validity of Milgram (3 strengths, 1 weakness)
Could be argued that the study lacks mundane realism, the obedience task completed in the research isn’t typical of obedience in everyday life, it is more typical of ‘extreme obedience’ situations such as genocide.
The sample in the original study is 40 males so these results may not be applicable to females (only male PP’s)
The sample had a variety of ages, occupations and educational backgrounds, so may be quite representative of males in the local area.
Milgram’s own experiences may have led to researcher bias in his interpretation of behaviours.
3 weaknesses of ethics of Milgram
1) Deception: Milgram informed the participants the research was about memory and learning; the use of a confederate; the lack of actual electric shocks; the use of pre-recorded responses from the Teacher.
2) Risk of stress, anxiety, humiliation or pain: Signs of extreme tension were observed, participants “were observed to sweat, tremble, stutter, bite their lips, groan, and dig their finger nails into their flesh”.
3) Risk to the participants’ values, beliefs, relationships, status or privacy: the teachers may have left this research with a negative opinion of their own capabilities which may have had a long-term impact on their own values and beliefs.
Evaluation of Sample of Milgram
The sample was all male so prone to beta bias, meaning the findings could not be generalised to women but this was acceptable scientific research at the time.
The sample contained a range of ages, occupations and backgrounds, but it was limited by location (New Haven, USA) meaning the findings cannot be generalised to other cultures; cross cultural studies have produced mixed findings.
The sample was self-selecting which may have meant that the participants were more likely to take the research seriously; however, only certain people might volunteer for research
Evaluation of use of Observation in Milgram
In the study several observers were used, increasing the internal reliability of the research, but the observers did discuss their surprise at what they were witnessing which could have affected their interpretation of the behaviour.
Objective measures recorded the behaviour of the participant, increasing validity but this does not give an insight as to how they were feeling or what they were thinking.
Evaluation of use of location of Milgram (??)
The research controlled for extraneous variables by using standardised procedures, such as the same confederate and prods. This allowed for the study to be repeated to test for reliability (e.g. Burger 2009)
however, critics claim that the standardised procedures were not maintained after the first few trials
The study lacks ecological validity as it is not an everyday task to be asked to administer electric shocks on command; but Milgram claimed that events such as the Holocaust were not everyday acts and soldiers were often in a unique situation.
