Milgram

Question 0

Aims?

Answer 0

To investigate how far people will go in obeying authority figures

Question 1

Prompted by?

Answer 1

German military authority

Question 2

The sample was all?

Answer 2

Male

Question 3

How many in the sample?

Answer 3

40

Question 4

How much were they promised they would get paid?

Answer 4

$4.50 (for turning up)

Question 5

Ages between?

Answer 5

20-50

Question 6

Where was the study?

Answer 6

New Haven area - Yale uni

Question 7

How were the men able to find out about the study?

Answer 7

Newspaper ad

Question 8

What were the men tested on whilst doing the procedure?

Answer 8

Tested by memory test to assess learning

Question 9

What was fixed within the study?

Answer 9

The teacher would always be the participant

Question 10

How many volts was given to the participant before they started shocking the learner?

Answer 10

45v

Question 11

If the answer was wrong what would the learner get?

Answer 11

An electric shock, increasing in voltage everytime they get it wrong

Question 12

At 300v what did the learner do?

Answer 12

He bumped on the wall

Question 13

After 300v did the learner reply?

Answer 13

No

Question 14

How did the experiment end?

Answer 14

Either going to 450v or refusing to go anymore

Question 15

Ethically what did Milgram do right?

Answer 15

Milgram debriefed and reassured the learner there was no harm

Question 16

Conclusion?

Answer 16

People will obey authority figure but we might consider that 35% stopped short of maximum voltage

Question 17

Validity?

Answer 17

It was for mimicking officers at work. It was highly artificial, it was with ‘mundane realism’. Maybe compliance was high because of payment

Question 18

Reliability?

Answer 18

Repeat/retest was easy

Question 19

Generalisability?

Answer 19

Only males, limited by age profile and jobs mixed

Question 20

Usefulness?

Answer 20

Clearly shows impact of obedience but Milgram’s concern about validity

Question 21

The experimenter?

Answer 21

Was a 31 year old and a grey lab coat

Question 22

What were the prods told to the participants to continue with the study?

Answer 22

‘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’

Question 23

How much did the volts go up by?

Answer 23

15 volts

Question 24

Results: Quantative Data?

Answer 24

All of the 40 participants went to 300 volts and 26 went to 450 volts

Question 25

Results: Qualitative data?

Answer 25

Some participants demonstrated profound upset and distress e.g crying, sweating, ‘full blown’ seizure