Milgram Flashcards
What was Milgrams aim?
To find out whether people would obey authroity and why would they obey when they knew their actions were morally wrong
How can Milgrams study be placed in a historical context?
Many studies carried out after WW2, psychologists were keen to prevent events like Holocaust from happening again as they felt these happened due to obeying authority
How can Milgrams study be placed in an academic context?
A case study of Eichmann - nazi responsible for transportation of Jews to death camps. Trial in Israel in 1961 revealed he wasn’t evil but had just followed orders. By 1944 he’d overseen 6 million deaths of Jews. Milgram wanted to test to see if people had authoritarian personalities
What was Milgram’s research method?
Observation under controlled conditions
What sampling method was used?
Volunteer
How many pps were there and were they male or female?
40 males
What were the pps told the research was about?
Memory
How much were the pps paid?
$4.50
What were the pps education?
Very low level to doctorate (Phd)
How many people were involved in the research at one time?
3
What were the 3 people involved in the research?
Genuine pps - teacher
Confederate 47y/o accountant - learner
Confederate 31 y/o biology teacher - experimenter
What did the teacher and learner have to draw?
Rigged lots
How many shocks were the teacher given to make sure they thought it was real?
45 volts
How many switches did the shock generator have?
30
How much did each switch rise by every time?
15 volts
After how many volts did the learner go quiet?
315 volts
How did Milgram address some ethical issues?
By debriefing his pps straight after the research, explaining shocks were fake afterwards and ensuring pps were in a state of well being before they left the lab
Before the study how many psychology students thought only 0-3% of pps would give 450 volts?
14
What % of pps went up to the full 450 volts?
65%
What % stopped before the 450 volts?
35%
How many pps withdrew at 300 volts?
5
How many pps withdrew at 315 volts?
4
At how many volts did 2 pps withdraw at?
330
How many pps withdrew at 345, 360 and 375 volts?
1
What did many pps show whilst doing the research?
Extreme stress
How many pps had seizures?
3
What were the 2 things that Milgram found once he’d debriefed his pps?
- they felt extremely stressed
- on a 14 point scale (14 extremely painful) the pps modal answer to how painful do you think the shocks were, was 14
What were the 5 things Milgram concluded from his research?
- people obey due to situation
- people obeyed because they were in a prestigious uni (Yale)
- people obeyed because they felt obliged
- people obeyed because they didnt want to disrupt the research
- pps tension arose due to not wanting to harm the learner and wanting to obey
Was reliability a strength for Milgram?
Yes - scientific, could be repeated
Allowed Milgram to repeat it again changing just one variable e.g. females
Was validity a strength for Milgram?
No - carried out in artificial conditions
Was Milgrams sample strong?
No - pps were all male and from one town - cannot generalise. However he later used females and found the same % obeyed strengthening his original study
What data was collected from Milgrams study?
Both - quantitative - enables comparisons & qualitative - adds depth
What were the 3 problems for Milgram in terms of ethics?
Pps didnt give informed consent
Not protected from harm
Milgram made it difficult for them to withdraw
What evidence is there to support Milgram and how?
Eichmann - executed after being found guilty of transportation of Jews. He wasn’t evil just followed orders. This evidence supports Milgram because 65% gave shocks because they were following orders. However this supporting evidence is limited because there was only 1 pp - eichmann - difficult to generalise. Horizons evidence supported Milgrams as they found 75% obeyed.
Who else’s research supports Milgram and how?
Hofling - found high levels of obedience in a hospital. Nurses were phoned to give double doses of drugs to patients - 95% obeyed. This supports because both found people obey authority
Whose evidence challenges Milgrams and how?
Rank and Jacobson - found 89% of nurses didn’t give patients Valium after being told to by a doctor. This rejects MIlgrams study, however this study is lower in reliability as it wasn’t carried out in controlled conditions
