Milgram (1963) Flashcards
Obedience
Following orders from an authority figure.
Is Milgram situational or dispositional?
Dispositional factor that binds people to systems of authority. Eg personality.
Background of Milgram
Interested in inhumane actions of the holocaust and how obedience can override training in ethics, empathy and moral values.
What did Milgram say about situational factors?
Believed that commands given by legitimate authority figures, subordinates adopt an agentic state, where responsibility is not on them.
Aim of Milgram
To investigate process of obedience and the power of legitimate authority.
Method of Milgram
Controlled observation at a laboratory in Yale University, America.
Sample of Milgram
40 male participants aged 20-50 obtained vis self-selecting from an advertisement in newspaper and direct mail of a memory test. Ppts paid $4.50 for showing up.
What was predicted before Milgram’s experiment ?
14 Yale seniors predicted results of observation and were asked to plot distribution of obedience.
Procedure of Milgram
-Ppts were always given role of teacher (fixed) and learner was a confederate.
-Gave an electric shock for every wrong answer.
-Learner used recording for responses.
- Gave prods eg “Please continue”
- Ppts were fully debriefed after
-Data obtained through observation through one way mirror and ppts self-report.
Findings of Milgram
100% went to 300v.
65% went to 450v.
Many showed extreme stress eg sweating, trembling.
White coat represented situational factor and responsibility.
Conclusions of Milgram
Inhumane acts can be done by ordinary people.
People will obey legitimate authority figures even against their moral belief.
How does Milgram link to social area ?
Pressure from another person can lead to people obeying immoral acts of administering potentially fatal shocks despite their discomfort.
