Milgram (1963)

Question 1

(Milgram) What is the background behind Milgram’s desire to study obedience?

Answer 1

Milgram’s parents were prisoners in concentration camps during World War II. Milgram wanted to investigate whether anyone could obey an authority figure in order to carry out horrific acts, or whether obedience was more common in Germans.

Question 2

(Milgram) What was the aim of the study?

Answer 2

To investigate what level of obedience participants would show when an authority figure told them to administer electric shocks to another person.

Question 3

(Milgram) How did Milgram recruit his participants?

Answer 3

By putting out an advertisement in the newspaper, and sending out advertisements in the mail.

Question 4

(Milgram) What did Milgram’s advertisement state?

Answer 4

That you would be paid $4.50 to take part in an experiment on memory and learning that would take an hour.

Question 5

(Milgram) What would participants receive $4.50 for?

Answer 5

For turning up (you didn’t necessarily have to complete the experiment).

Question 6

(Milgram) What method was used to gather the sample?

Answer 6

Self-selecting.

Question 7

(Milgram) Describe the sample.

Answer 7

40 males, aged 20-50, all from New Haven, Connecticut.

Question 8

(Milgram) Fill in the blank: The participants came from a variety of ___________.

Answer 8

Backgrounds (different careers, educational levels etc.).

Question 9

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: Participants took part in the experiment ___ at a time. They were told that the purpose of the study was about ______ and _____ know that the real aim of the study was to test _________.

Answer 9

1) one
2) memory
3) didn’t
4) obedience

Question 10

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: 1) _____ people are involved in the study. ___ participants and the ____________.

Answer 10

1) Three
2) Two
3) experimenter

Question 11

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: 2) The participants draw ____ and are given their roles, one is assigned “_______” and the other “_______”.

Answer 11

1) lots
2) teacher
3) learner

Question 12

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: 3) The three go into a room with a chair that has __________ strapped to it. The _______ is told to sit in the chair. Electrodes are attached to them, the straps fitted on to them to prevent them from leaving.

Answer 12

1) electrodes
2) learner

Question 13

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: 4) The task is explained by the ____________. The learner has to remember a series of ____ _____. During the memory test, the _______ will give a word to the learner and then ____ options. The learner has to decide which of the ____ options correctly ___________ to the word. The learner answers by pushing one of the _______.

Answer 13

1) experimenter
2) word pairs
3) teacher
4) four
5) four
6) corresponds
7) buttons

Question 14

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: 5) For every ________ answer, the learner is told he will receive an ________ _____. The shock will get _____ for every subsequent _________ answer. The teacher is given a ______ shock so they have an understanding of the pain it causes.

Answer 14

1) incorrect
2) electric shock
3) worse
4) incorrect
5) sample

Question 15

(Milgram) What is the voltage of the sample shock that is administered to the participant?

Answer 15

45V

Question 16

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: 6) The teacher and experimenter leave the learner and go into another room. In that room is a __________ to the learner and a _____ _________ that is attached to the learner’s chair in the other room. The _____ _________ has __ switches labelled with different voltages - ranging from ___ to ____.

Answer 16

1) microphone
2) shock generator
3) shock generator
4) 30
5) 15V to 450V

Question 17

(Milgram) Fill in the blanks: 7) The experimenter stays with the teacher as he asks the learner questions and shocks him with ____________ high voltages as he gets _________ answers.

Answer 17

1) increasingly
2) incorrect

Question 18

(Milgram) Out of the three people taking part, which two characters were actors?

Answer 18

The experimenter and the learner.

Question 19

(Milgram) What was the experimenter cast as?

Answer 19

A 31-year-old, appeared to be stern and wore a grey lab coat - meant to be the authority figure in the study.

Question 20

(Milgram) What was the learner cast as?

Answer 20

A 47-year-old, mild-mannered and likeable person who said he was an accountant.

Question 21

(Milgram) Describe the reality of the shock generator.

Answer 21

Wasn’t connected to the learners chair was was not actually shocking the learner.

Question 22

(Milgram) What happened once the teacher had administered shocks up to 300V?

Answer 22

He would hear banging on the wall (as if trying to call off the experiment).

Question 23

(Milgram) What happened once the teacher had administered shocks up to 315V?

Answer 23

The knocking stopped - as did the answers fro the learner (to make the teacher believe that the learner was seriously injured/dead).

Question 24

(Milgram) What did the learner do in later experiments to scare the teacher?

Answer 24

Scream in pain and let out a cry for the experiment to stop.

Question 25

(Milgram) What would the experimenter do if the researcher felt uncomfortable and asked for the experiment to stop?

Answer 25

A series of prompts would be said.

Question 26

(Milgram) What were the 4 prods used by the experimenter?

Answer 26

1) ‘Please continue’ / ‘ Please go on’
2) ‘The experiment requires that you continue’
3) ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’
4) ‘You have no other choice, you must go on’

Question 27

(Milgram) What happened to participants after the experiment?

Answer 27

They were told the true purpose of the study and had a mental health check.

Question 28

(Milgram) What was Milgram truly testing?

Answer 28

How far the ‘teacher’ would obey the experimenter until he called off the experiment.

Question 29

(Milgram) What percentage of participants went all the way to 450V?

Answer 29

65%

Question 30

(Milgram) How many participants went up to 300V?

Answer 30

All participants.

Question 31

(Milgram) How many participants refused to continue after 300V?

Answer 31

5 participants.

Question 32

(Milgram) How many more participants stopped between 315V and 375V?

Answer 32

9 more participants.

Question 33

(Milgram) What was the dependent variable of the study?

Answer 33

How many volts each participant would “shock” the learner with until they stopped.

Question 34

(Milgram) What percentage of participants did Milgram and other psychologists predict to administer fatal voltages?

Answer 34

1.2%

Question 35

(Milgram) What behaviour did Milgram observe from the participants during the experiment? (9)

Answer 35

• Sweating
• Trembling
• Stuttering
• Lip biting
• Groaning
• Biting their nails
• Crying
• Nervous laughing
• 3 participants had violent convulsions.

Question 36

(Milgram) Why did so many people obey? (8)

Answer 36

• Took place at a prestigious University (Yale).
• Participants believed the learners had volunteered.
• Experimenter in a white lab coat reinforced the idea that it was a scientific study.
• As the learner didn’t complain until 300V they felt that it was okay to continue.
• Participants felt guilty as they had been paid.
• Ensure shocks didn’t cause permanent damage.
• Each shock was only a little higher than the previous one.
• Little time for the teacher to resolve the conflict.

Question 37

(Milgram) Milgram’s sample was not generalisable, what does this make the study?

Answer 37

Ethnocentric

Question 38

(Milgram) Is the study easy to repeat? (internal reliability)

Answer 38

Yes, as it was a laboratory experiment and therefore highly controlled.

Question 39

(Milgram) (Validity) Is there any reason why someone would shock someone else other than just being obedient?

Answer 39

Yes, some people are just sick! A participant may have enjoying inflicting harm on others.

Question 40

(Milgram) Does Milgram’s study have low or high levels of ecological validity?

Answer 40

Low.