Milgram Flashcards
AO1 experiment
- aim: To explore obedience to authority
- ad in a newspaper. three roles teacher, learner and experimenter (teacher and learner was randomly allocated but actually rigged that the participant was always the learner, and the learner was a Confederate)
- teacher was told to ask the learner to recall sequences of words and to shock them (not actually but participant believed)if they got it wrong, starting with 15v and going up to 450v
- when the teacher didn’t want to continue the experimenter gave the teacher prods such as “it is essential that you continue”
AO1 results
65% of participants went all the way to 450V. Proximity- when orders were given over the phone less than 20.5%. Location- study was moved from Yale University to a run-down office building, less than 47.5%. Uniform- experimenter replaced with confederate in normal clothing, less than 20%. Support- when teacher is given two buddies (confederates)who refuse experimenter, less than 10%.
AO3 Ethics
Ethics of study were poor. Participant deceived, told the aim of the experiment was to see the effects of pain on memory. Participants also felt they diurnal have the right to withdraw because of the prods: “it is absolutely essential that you continue”. Participants also not protected from psychological harm as they thought the shocks were real and in some cases maybe that they had killed someone cause Learner stopped responding. BUT Milgram did do a debrief with each of his participants where he explained what the propose of the study was and what really happened.
AO3 lab
Strength is High controlled lab environment at Yale. All participants received same prods and screams were pre recorded so all P got same experience, so increases reliability. Extraneous variables controlled. BUT lab setting creates an artificial environment, in which some participants may have suffered demand characteristics. Milgram reported that only 75% of P thought shocks were real.
AO3 generalisability
Limited sample, all white, ages 20-50, American men. Findings aren’t applicable to other places of cultures. However Burger (2009) recreated Milgrams experiment in a more ethical way with a more representative sample of P and got similar results to Milgram, so this supports Milgrams experiment and increases reliability .
