Milgram Flashcards
Aims?
To investigate how far people will go in obeying authority figures
Prompted by?
German military authority
The sample was all?
Male
How many in the sample?
40
How much were they promised they would get paid?
$4.50 (for turning up)
Ages between?
20-50
Where was the study?
New Haven area - Yale uni
How were the men able to find out about the study?
Newspaper ad
What were the men tested on whilst doing the procedure?
Tested by memory test to assess learning
What was fixed within the study?
The teacher would always be the participant
How many volts was given to the participant before they started shocking the learner?
45v
If the answer was wrong what would the learner get?
An electric shock, increasing in voltage everytime they get it wrong
At 300v what did the learner do?
He bumped on the wall
After 300v did the learner reply?
No
How did the experiment end?
Either going to 450v or refusing to go anymore
Ethically what did Milgram do right?
Milgram debriefed and reassured the learner there was no harm
Conclusion?
People will obey authority figure but we might consider that 35% stopped short of maximum voltage
Validity?
It was for mimicking officers at work. It was highly artificial, it was with ‘mundane realism’. Maybe compliance was high because of payment
Reliability?
Repeat/retest was easy
Generalisability?
Only males, limited by age profile and jobs mixed
Usefulness?
Clearly shows impact of obedience but Milgram’s concern about validity
The experimenter?
Was a 31 year old and a grey lab coat
What were the prods told to the participants to continue with the study?
‘Please continue’, ‘this experiment requires that you continue’, ‘you have no choice, you must go on’,’although the shock may be painful there is no permanent tissue damage’ and ‘it is absolutely essential that you continue’
How much did the volts go up by?
15 volts
Results: Quantative Data?
All of the 40 participants went to 300 volts and 26 went to 450 volts
Results: Qualitative data?
Some participants demonstrated profound upset and distress e.g crying, sweating, ‘full blown’ seizure
