Milgram (1963)

Question 0

Method

Answer 0

Controlled observation

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate what level of obedience would be shown when participants were told by an authority figure to administer electric shocks to another person

Question 2

Participants and pay

Answer 2

40 males

Payed $4 an hour + 50c travel fare

Question 3

Location

Answer 3

New Haven, Connecticut

Question 4

Sample

Answer 4

Volunteer

Newspaper articles and mail shots

Question 5

Age

Answer 5

20-50 years old

Question 6

Procedure

Answer 6

• drew lots from a fixed draw to provoke empathy
• taken to another room where the teacher is given a sample 40v shock
• teacher watches learner get strapped in and told it will be painful but cause no damage
• learner explains heart condition
• adjacent rooms and teacher tests on word pairs
• a voice recording was played of screaming
• participants told they must finish

Question 7

How many left?

Answer 7

14

Question 8

Examples of qualitative data?

Answer 8

“I can’t go on with this”

“It’s crazy”

Question 9

When was the experiment considered to be finished?

Answer 9

When they walked out or had administered 3 x 450v shocks

Question 10

Confederate roles?

Answer 10

• Fake experimenter- man in 50s
  - grey lab coat
  - stern looking
• Mr. Wallis- 50+accountant
  - plays the learner

Question 11

Debrief

Answer 11

Participants interviewed, reassured of their behaviour and met with the learner

Question 12

Results

Answer 12

All participants went to 300v
If they went to 390v they completed it
All exhibited nervous behaviour eg seizure, sweating

Question 13

Reasoning

Answer 13

Yale university- prestigious and worthy purpose

The learner volunteered = outgoing

Question 14

Reliability

Answer 14

Completely standardised procedures

Question 15

Ethics (3)

Answer 15

Deception
The right to withdraw (14 left)
Protection of Participants (follow up on harm)

Question 16

Ecological Validity

Answer 16

Low - lack of mundane realism (everyday life)

Low - experimental realism (forgot they were in a study)

Question 17

Usefulness and application to everyday life

Answer 17

Helped understand human behaviour
People review their value system
Explains why people obey police and emergency staff
Explains why anti soldiers killed despite conscience

Question 18

Advantages of Method

Answer 18

First hand data

Controlled environment

Question 19

Disadvantages of method

Answer 19

Artificial scenario 
Observer bias
Volunteer sample (all confident) 
Unrepresentative sample
Ethnocentric