Milgram Flashcards
What was the study about
Milgrams obedience experiment studied the level of obedience by an authority figure, even when its to the point of harming someone
What was the experiments procedure
Participants were told to administor shocks to the learner when he got. A question wrog, this was told by an authority figure in a lab coat, many continued to shock the learner despite his continuous cries and screams in pain, showing high obedience level. Milgram gained his sample by advertising in a newspaper for male pps, those who took part were make students at yale
Milgrams variations: proximity of the victim
voive feedback study, the learner and teahcer were seated in separate rooms, but the learners cries were still heard, in this variation the obedience rate was still high, 62.5%
- proximity study, teacher and learner were setaed in the same room and the level of obedience dropped to 40%
Milgrams variations: proximity of the authority figure
in origional ,experimenter was only a few feet away, which made them feel consistently monitored
- in variation the experimentor gave directions over the phone, the majority of ps now defied the experimenter and the level of obedience decreased to 21%, some even gave the lowest shock level despite telling the experimenter they were following correct orders
Milgrams variations: presence of allies
two peers revel study, there were 2 accomplices and 1 real pp, they shared the task of teaching the learner, they each had different roles within this, where only one would aminister shocks. When the 2 bogus teachers refused to continue, the other teacher also withdrew , with only 10% continuing to max shcok level
Milgrams variations: increasing teachers discretion
- the levek of shock was left to the pps discretion, under these conditions only 1pp out of 40 delivered max shock level and 95% chose to not increase the shock level when the learner protested
Milgrams variations: location/ status of research
The study was then replicated in a run down office block within the same study, the experimentor wore ordinary clothes. The level of obedience decreased by 17.5
Was Milgrams study realistic? Link to orne and Holland
orne and holland 1968 doubted the internal validity of milgrams findings, this was because they feel as though the pps knew the true purpose of the study because while the learner was screaming showing his discomfort, the experimentor kept cool and showed no remorse, showing that the learner didnt actually feel real pain
Was Milgrams study realistic? Link to hofling et al
the experiment was done in a more realistic setting by hofling et al in 1966 in a hospital. This was where nurses were telephoned by a fake doctor to give patients 20mg of a drug, however nurses knew this was unusual as they knew not to take orders over the phone ,and that the dosage they were told to give was twice than advised on the bottle. 95% of doctors did as they were told.
Was Milgrams study realistic? Link to hofling et al
the experiment was done in a more realistic setting by hofling et al in 1966 in a hospital. This was where nurses were telephoned by a fake doctor to give patients 20mg of a drug, however nurses knew this was unusual as they knew not to take orders over the phone ,and that the dosage they were told to give was twice than advised on the bottle. 95% of doctors did as they were told.
Were there ethical issues?
85% were glad to have participated and later met with a psychologist who confirmed that there was no psychological harm, or either recovred from that psychological harm
