Milgram (1963) Flashcards
Background of the study
During WW2 millions of people were killed because they were told to more specifically Jews. 6 million Jews were killed. This links to Milgram as he was a Jew living in America and was afraid that the same thing would happen to him and his family so he conducted this experiment to see how far a person would go under a legitimate authority figure .
What was the aim of the study?
To investigate the process of obedience , to demonstrate the power of a legitimate authority figure even when it requires destructive behaviour
What research method was used?
This was a controlled observation as there was no Independent variable. This study took place in laboratory at Yale university some conditions were controlled and standardised responses. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected.
What sample of people was used ?
- 40 participants aged 20 and 50 years from the new haven area
- volunteer sampling: obtained from newspapers advertisements and the mail who asked participants to participate in a study of memory and learning at Yale University. Participants were paid $4.50 for simply turning up to the lab
-A strength is that there is a vary in age so are able to say this is representative of people in that age category
-A weakness is that it is only males taking part so we can not generalise the results to females
What prediction was made prior to the study?
Prior to the study , 14 Yale seniors were asked what they thought would happen . They thought only 1% -3% of participants would obey all the way to the highest shock 450 volts
Procedure
The participants were told that the experiment was to see how punishment affected learning and drew lots with Mr Wallace (the confederate ) to see who would play the part of the teacher or learner.
• Mr Wallace always played the learner and was strapped into a chair in the next-door room and attached to the electric shock machine.
• The teacher, who had been given a sample shock to demonstrate that the machine was working ,also told them that the shock could be extremely painful and there would be no permeable tissue damage ,read out a list of word pairs and the learner had to say which of the four was correct.
• Every time the learner got a question wrong, he was given an electric shock by the teacher and the shocks increased in intensity with each mistake — from 15 V to 450 V.
• The learner had recorded a script which gave mainly wrong answers and for each of these the teacher gave him an electric shock.
• When the shock level reached 300 V the learner pounded on the wall and shouted to be ‘let out’.
• After the 315 V shock the learner pounded on the wall again but after that remained silent.
• When the teacher felt unsure about continuing, the experimenter used a sequence of four standard
‘prods’, which were repeated if necessary:
• Prod 1: Please continue.
• Prod 2: The experime requis that you continue.
• Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue.
• Prod 4: You have no other choice, you must go on.
• If the teacher asked whether the learner might suffer permanent physical injury, the experimenter said: ‘Although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue damage, so please go on.
What took place after the study and before the debrief?
Participants rated the pain that they thought the learner was experiencing on a point scale - modal response was 14 with mean on 13.42 this suggested that it was very painful for the learner
After they were debriefed by an interview and was introduced to the victim this was to ensure they left the lab in a state of well being
Results
- All participants shocked the learner to 300 volts
- 65 % of participants went all the way to 450 volts
- The participants showed signs of extreme tension: most of them were seen to sweat, tremble, ‘full-blown seizures’.
stutter, bite their lips’ and some laughed nervously and smiled in a bizarre fashion. Three even had full, blown , controllable seizures - some remained calm and showed little tension - qualitative data
Conclusions
Milgram proposed the concept of an agentic state to explain this high level of obedience.
- In this situation, the participant acts as the ‘tool’ of the experimenter, passing the responsibility for the consequences of his actions to the experimenter — ‘I was only following orders’.
- He also proposed that participants obeyed so much was caused by the situation they were in rather than their dispositions. various factors contributed to this was: prestigious setting , formality, told shocks were not dangerous, conflict - not to harm others or obedience to authority
Evaluation 1
A main strength of Milgrams study was the amount of standardisation he was able to administer. For example , all participants used the same shock generator which increased by 15v , experienced the same probs from the same person in the same order. Therefore due to this standardisation , the study is said to have high reliability because Milgram was able to keep his procedure consistent, and thus gather consistent results across participants
Evaluation 2
A further strength is that milgram reduced the chances of demand characteristics of participants. Milgram achieved this by disguising the study as a study on the effect of punishment on learning instead of how obedient people are towards authority figure.As they were unaware of what was being measured , they could not give false results to please the experimenter. This allowed the measure of obedience to be more valid , as their reaction to the authority figure should be a real one , not faked or to please the researcher
Weakness 1
Participants were deceived of the exact nature of the study . This was because if the true aim of the study it would have cause demand characteristics if the aim was revealed and by administering fake shocks to the learner.
Weakness 2
Protection of participants : He gave a full debrief after the study to the ps and he did a psychological testing to ensure the ps left in the some psychological state before the study. A year after the study an independent psychiatrist interviewed 40 Of the participants who had experienced psychological stress and found no harm or evidence of traumatic reactions
Weakness 3
Right to withdraw: if the probs were not used many ps would have left the study so milgram would not have been able to measure obedience if the right to withdraw was not restricted.
Weakness 4
A further criticism of Milgram study was the unrepresentative sample
All the participants were from new haven ( enthocentlrism) , all were androcentric and all responded to an advertisement. We are unable to generalise the results to different cultures and areas outside of America . Therefore explanations for high levels of obedience can’t be generalised to the target population and therefore lacks population validity
