Milgram Flashcards
Age
20-50
Paid for the study
Aim of the study
$4.50
Milgram aimed to investigate obedience to authority
How many were wanted And where
500 new haven men and Yale university
How many participants
40 male participants
What was the false task aims
Learning word pairs
Starting shock level and label it was given
15 volts (labelled slight shock)
Top level voltage
450 volts, labelled severe shock
What happened at 300 volts
At 300’volts the the learner pounded on the wall and gave no response until the next question
What happened at 315 volts
The learner pounded and no longer responded to any questions or made any noise
What did the experimenter tell the teacher when they asked to stop
- please continue
- the experiment requires you to continue
- you have no choice
Findings
65% of participants went to 450 volts
All participants went to 300 volts
Evaluation
Supporting replication
- French telivision programme
- People were paid to shock other participants when ordered by the presenter
- 80% of participants delivered maximum shock of 460 volts to an apparently unconscious man
- puppy study
- 100% of women and 54% of men delivered a ‘fatal’ shock to a puppy
Evaluation
Low internal validity
- participants may not have believed to study was real and therefore did not hesitate to shock
- however, Milgram reported 70% of his participants believed the shocks were real
Evaluation
Ethical issues
Deception into tricking participants believing they were inflicting harm on others
Evaluation
Good external validity
(Nurse and doctor study)
Lab study reflects wider authority relationships in real life
-Hofling et al study of 21/22 nurses obeying doctors in the workplace
