Milgram

Question 1

Define obedience.

Answer 1

A form of social influence I’m which an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority.

Question 2

What is the background to Milgram’s study?

Answer 2

• Adolf Eichmann was a key player in the ‘Final Solution’ (the Nazi program for mass murder of the Jewish people).
• He was brought to trial as a war criminal where he argued that he was just following orders and therefore was not guilty for the mass murder.
• Milgram wanted to test whether the Germans were particularly obedient or if anyone is capable of being as obedient if they are put in a similar situation.

Question 3

What was the aim of Milgram’s study?

Answer 3

To investigate whether ordinary Americans would follow an unjust request from an authority figure (a person who has the right to/power to give orders/enforce obedience).

Question 4

What was the research method in Milgram’s study?

Answer 4

• Controlled observation.
• Everything was kept the same for each participant but there was not IV despite there being a DV so it is a controlled observation.

Question 5

What was the sampling method in Milgram’s study?

Answer 5

• Self selecting sampling whereby Milgram’s put an advert in the local newspaper / posted this advert through doors. The advert had the criteria of the participants that would be accepted and a form that they could complete to register their interest.

Question 6

What was the sample in Milgram’s study?

Answer 6

• 40 participants
• 20 - 50 years old
• Male
• From the New Haven Area
• Factory workers, barbers, clerks, white-collar workers, others.

Question 7

How much was each participant paid in Milgram’s study?

Answer 7

$4.00 plus 50c carfare

Question 8

What was the procedure in Milgram’s study?

Answer 8

• Participants were told the experiment was investigating punishment and learning.
• Participants were tested randomly and were always the teacher (due to a fixed lottery).
• Participants saw the ‘volunteer’ (in fact a confederate) strapped into a chair with electrodes attached to his arms and were told the shocks were not harmful.
• The participant was given a sample shock of 45 volts from the shock generator.
• The teacher was seated in a room adjacent to the learner and read over the intercom a series of word-pairs.
• The teacher then asked to learner to identify the correct answer from a choice of four by pressing switches.
• If the learner got the answer correct they went onto the next question, however if they got it wrong, the teacher administered an electric shock which increased by 15V each time.
• The learner produced a set of predetermined responses, giving approximately three wrongs answers to every correct one.
• At 300V the learner pounds on the wall.
• After 300V, the learner stops answering questions which is treated as an incorrect answer.
• At 315V the learner pounds on the wall.
• If the teacher expressed his discomfort, the experimenter would reply using one of the four prods in the determined order.
• The experiment ended when either 450V was reached of the participant withdrew.
• All participants were then debriefed by being told about the real nature of the experience y and were re-introduced to the learner.

Question 9

What were the series of prods used in Milgram’s study?

Answer 9

• ‘Please continue’.
• ‘The experiment requires you to continue.’
• ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue.’
• ‘You have no other choice but to continue.’

Question 10

What were the series of prods used in Milgram’s study?

Answer 10

• ‘Please continue’.
• ‘The experiment requires you to continue.’
• ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue.’
• ‘You have no other choice but to continue.’

Question 11

What equipment was used in Milgram’s study?

Answer 11

• Electric shock generator
• Rigged lottery tickets
• Electrodes
• Buttons for answers
• A speak
• Straps
• Wores
• Intercom
• List of word pairs

Question 12

What were the quantitative findings from Milgram’s study?

Answer 12

• 100% of participants continues to 300v.
• 65% of participants continued to 450v.
• 26 participants were obedient.
• 14 participants were disobedient.

Question 13

What were the qualitative findings from Milgram’s study?

Answer 13

• 14 shoes nervous laughter.
• 3 had full blown uncontrollable seizures.
• Participants were observed to sweat, tremble, stutter and groan.
• ‘I don’t think this is very humane.’
• ‘I’d like to continue, but I can’t do that to a man.’

Question 14

What were the conclusions made from Milgram’s study?

Answer 14

• Germans are not different (i.e. they are not more obedient).
• The situation produced strong tendencies to obey.
• The situation had caused emotional strain and tension.

Question 15

What were the explanations for high levels of obedience in Milgram’s study?

Answer 15

• The study took place at Yale University, a credible institution with a good reputation.
• Participants had volunteered and were paid so felt obliged to take part.
• It was apparently by chance that the teacher was assigned that role; the6 both ran the risk of being the learner.
• Participants were assured that the shocks weren’t dangerous.

Question 16

What were the explanations for high levels of tension in Milgram’s study?

Answer 16

• The participant was placed in a position in which he had to respond to competing demands from two people - the experimenter and the victim - whose demands couldn’t both be met.
• The demands of the experimenter (for abstract scientific knowledge) and the victim (for relief from physical suffering) were very different.
• The experiment gave the participant little time for reflection.
• The experiment involved participants experiencing conflict between the disposition not to harm others and the tendency to obey those perceived to be legitimate authorities.

Question 17

How does Milgram’s study lack ecological validity?

Answer 17

• The request from the authority figure (to cause someone serious harm) was an extreme one and not an everyday request.
• Yale university was a highly artificial setting (a lab).

Question 18

How does Milgram’s study have ecological validity?

Answer 18

• Those working in Nazi death camps were also required by authority figures to inflict harm upon others.

Question 19

How does Milgram’s study lack population validity?

Answer 19

• Only men
• Only aged 20 - 50 (no students)
• Only from the New Haven area

Question 20

How does Milgram’s study have population validity?

Answer 20

• All occupations
• Relatively large sample size
• Represents the group they were trying to research (Nazis working in death camps)

Question 21

How does Milgram’s study lack construct validity?

Answer 21

• Milgram didn’t do much to ensure participants were all psychologically healthy.
• The behaviour of his participants could also reflect their levels of empathy (for the learner) and their levels of moral courage.

Question 22

How does Milgram’s study have construct validity?

Question 23

How does Milgram’s study have internal reliability?

Answer 23

• The researcher was in the room for each participant.
• Each teacher was given a sample shock of 45v.
• Each teacher was given the same four prods in the same order.
• The learner only communicated to the teacher at 300v and 315v by banging on the wall.

Question 24

How does Milgram’s study lack internal reliability?

Answer 24

• Even though there were four standard prods it would have been difficult for the ‘experimenter’ to act in precisely the same with each participant.

Question 25

How does Milgram’s study have external reliability?

Answer 25

• Good sample size (40 participants) therefore we can trust that they are consistent results.

Question 26

How does Milgram’s study lack external reliability?

Question 27

How was Milgram’s study ethnocentric?

Answer 27

• Only studied participants in a certain area (New Haven, Connecticut, USA) so can only link results to this specific group.

Question 28

How was Milgram’s study not ethnocentric?

Answer 28

• Replications of the study in other cultures often produced quite similar results.

Question 29

How can Milgram’s study be defended ethically?

Answer 29

• Participants could withdraw from the study (35% did as they did not go up to 450v).
• Confidentiality was kept as no names were published in the original research paper.
• Participants were debriefed before they left the laboratory.

Question 30

How can Milgrams study be criticised ethically?

Answer 30

• There was deception as the participants were lied to about the aim of the study and they believed they were giving shocks to the learner when they weren’t.
• There was no informed consent as participants didn’t know the truth aim of the study.
• Many participants experienced harm during this study with three experiencing full blown, uncontrollable seizures.