Milgram

Question 1

what is obedience?

Answer 1

the result of social influence where somebody acts in response to a direct order from a authority figure

Question 2

what did he set out to investigate?

Answer 2

whether ordinary people will obey a legitimate authority even when requires to injure an innocent person.

Question 3

what did he do?

Answer 3

recruited 40 male participants by advertising for volunteers to take place in a study at Yale university and being paid $4.50.
There were 2 confederates an (experimenter) and the “learner.” The participant was the “learner.” He was told he must administer electric shocks to the “learner” each time he got the question wrong.
The “leaner” was sat in another room and mostly gave wrong answers to receive a FAKE electric shock. As the shocks increased, the “learner” would pretend to be hurt and would scream/cry out and even went silence with the effect that he had been knocked out or killed. A series of prods was used to ensure the “teacher” continued with the experiment

Question 4

what did he find?

Answer 4

65% continued to 450 volts, the max voltage

all participants went to 300 volts

Question 5

what are the conclusions or his study?

Answer 5

ordinary people are obedient to authority even when asked to behave in a inhumane way.
it is not evil people who commit atrocities but ordinary people who are just obeying orders
many crimes against humanity are the outcome of situational rather than dispositional factors

Question 6

VARIATIONS

in one variation, proximity study, what was it and how did it effect the amount that obeyed?

Answer 6

the teacher and the learner were in the same room, the amount who obeyed decreased

Question 7

VARIATIONS

touch-proximity-explain

Answer 7

teacher had to physically put the learners hand on the shock pad, obedience fell

Question 8

VARIATIONS

experimenter absent

Answer 8

experimenter gave prods over the phone after leaving the room

Question 9

VARIATIONS

two peers rebel study

Answer 9

3 teachers (2 confederates) The 2 confederates would refuse to give higher shocks
obedience fell

Question 10

VARIATIONS

discretion study

Answer 10

level of shock was left to participant

obedience fell the most

Question 11

VARIATIONS

gender

Answer 11

men and women were both included, obedience remained the same but women consistently reported stress

Question 12

VARIATIONS

location

Answer 12

the study was moved to a run down office block

obedience fell as participants began to question the legitimacy of the authority figure

Question 13

evaluation

Orne and Holland believed Milgrams study lacked internal validity-explain why

Answer 13

They claimed that the participants knew the learner was in no pain because the experimenter remained calm and unfazed by the learner receiving electric shocks. And this is why so many went to full voltage.

Question 14

evaluation

how does Milgram counteract this accusation by Orne and Holland?

Answer 14

that when he interviewed many of the participants, they had believed they were giving real shocks and the distress they felt was real.

Question 15

evaluation
Milgram’s study has been reproduced in other countries . However cultural differences, must be taken into account, explain

Answer 15

each of these replications differ slightly both in terms of procedures and types of participants used.

Question 16

evaluation

Hoffling’s study gives Milgram’s high ecological validity, explain what he did and why this gives it validity

Answer 16

a nurse was alone doing the late shift in a hospital one night, she received a call from an unknown doctor who asked her to administer a drug she had never heard of before-thus breaking 4 hospital rules. Despite this 21/22 nurses went to give the drug. When interviewed after, may said the doctors became annoyed before when they did not administer the drug. This study shows that high levels of obedience can be obtained in a real life setting.

Question 17

evaluation

A study by Rank and Jacobson questioned the validity of Hoffling’s nurse study, explain how they adapted it

Answer 17

they used a common drug, gave the name of a real doctor on the phone call and gave the nurses time to talk to each other before the drug had to be given. Only 2/18 obeyed.

Question 18

evaluation

Would Milgrams theory still work today?

Answer 18

Yes, in a recent study done by Burger which was identical to Milgram’s, he found levels of obedience almost exactly the same.

Question 19

evaluation
“the obedience alibi” David Mandel challenges criticises Milgram’s research by simply offering an alibi for the obedience shown by the holocaust perpetrators or by the Nazi’s,

Answer 19

:(

Question 20

evaluation

ETHICAL- informed consent- explain how it lacked informed consent?

Answer 20

because it didn’t tell the participants what was going to happen to them and so could not get 100% informed consent.

Question 21

evaluation
ETHICS- informed consent- Milgram argued there are 2 ways of overcoming the problem of informed consent, what are they and explain them

Answer 21

prior general consent: obtaining consent from participants and informing they may be “misinformed” about its purpose

presumptive consent: ask people not taking part whether they think the experiment is acceptable and how they think the participants will react.

Question 22

evaluation

ETHICS-protection from harm- how does the study not provide protection from harm?

Answer 22

because may were distressed, nervous tension was shown along with twitching and even a seizure

Question 23

evaluation

ETHICS-protection from harm- how has this been overcome?

Answer 23

the effects were only short term

Milgram interviewed the participants one year after and it was found that many were happy they took part

Question 24

evaluation
ETHICS-right to withdraw-Milgram referred to his participants as “volunteers”, why does this effect the right to withdraw?

Answer 24

it feels like the participants are less part of an experiment and less as if they were taking part and being involved.

Question 25

evaluation

ETHICS-right to withdraw- why didn’t the participants have the right to withdraw?

Answer 25

a series of prods was used which essentially discouraged withdrawal from the experiment.

Question 26

evaluation

ETHICS-debriefing- what does debriefing aim to do?

Answer 26

restore participants to the same state as when they entered.

Question 27

evaluation

ETHICS-debriefing- how was debriefing dealt with?

Answer 27

the participants were told not to feel ashamed and that their behavior was normal.
They were united with the learner and shook hands with them.