Milgram Flashcards
Aim of Milgram’s baseline procedure
discover whether regular Americans would obey an unjust order from an authority and whether it was situational or dispositional factors that influence this
who were Milgram’s P’s and how many?
male volunteers, 40 of them
how much were Milgram’s Ps paid?
$4.50 per hour
what did the confederate have to do in Milgram’s study?
memorise word pairs and indicated choice with system of lights
what happened if the learner got the answer wrong in Milgram’s study?
participant as teacher gave them a shock
what happened if the participant hesitated in Milgram’s study
researcher in room gave a series of verbal prods such as ‘please continue’ or ‘it is essential that you continue’
how many levers did the shock generator have and what was the voltage?
- 30 levers
- 15v intervals
- 15-450v
3 findings of Milgram
- all went to 300v
- 65% went to full 450v
- most Ps found precedure very stressful and wanted to stop, but despite verbally objecting, continued to obey when prodded
2 conclusions of Milgram
- under certain circumstances, people will obey orders going against their conscious
- when we have a subordinate position in hierarchy, we are likely to lose empathy, cmpassion and morality therefore inclined to blidly obey
what did Milgram’s conclusions suggest about crimes of humanity?
- suggests it is situational rather than dispositional factors that lead to these crimes#it isn’t evil people committing atrocities, just regular people obeying orders
which variation of Milgram’s study had an obedience rate of 47.5%? why?
- venue moved from Yale to run down office buillding
- decrease legitimacy and formality
which variation of Milgram’s study had an obedience rate of 40%? why?
- teacher and learner in same room
- increased proximity, can see pain caused so feel more responsible
which variation of Milgram’s study had an obedience rate of 30%? why?
- teacher forced learner’s hand onto a shock plate to deliver shock
- increased proximity and feel more responsible when forcing hand
which variation of Milgram’s study had an obedience rate of 10%? why?
- Teacher had support from 2 other ‘teachers’ (Cs) who refused to continue
- NSI conformity and social support to resist authority
which variation of Milgram’s study had an obedience rate of 92.5%? why?
- Teacher paired with an assistant (c) who flipped switches
- responsibility decreased through diffusion of responsibility and agentic state
which variation of Milgram’s study had an obedience rate of 20.5%? why?
- experimenter instructs and prods over the phone from another room
- increased proximity from authority
Milgram evaluation phrase
controlling puppies to pretend artificial populations are ethical
how was internal validity of Milgram’s study increased?
- great control over variables and procedure was standardised
- prods given in same order
- responses of learner to each shock were recorded and same ones played for each paticipant
what may have decreased inernal validity of Milgram’s study?
- P’s may have not believed shocks were real and just gone along with it to please experimenter
- may have questioned why P necessary as experimenter could have given shocks
- questioned why experiementer unresponsive to learner’s distress
- may not be a measure of obedience but rather of peopel pretending to obey
why does Milgram’s study lack ecological validity?
artificial nature of experiment may mean it doesn’t reflect real life
outline Sheridan and King’s procedure
- Ps (students) gave real shock to a puppy in response to orders from an experimenter
- despoite real distress of puppy, 54% of men and 100% of women gave what they thought was a fatal shock
- suggests effects of Milgram’s study were genuine because people obeyed even when shocks were real
- however, extrapolation - people may be less likely to shock a human than an animal
why does Milgram’s study lack population validity?
- androcentric and beta biased as only men
- ethnocentric as only white Americans therefore ungeneralisable to other cultures
issue of a volunteer sample
certain type may volunteer for a psych experiment therefore findings may only explain behaviour (obedience) in that type of person
ethical issues of Milgram’s study
- protection from harm
- deception
- informed consent
- right to withdraw
