Milgram AO1

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

An individual following a direct order from a person.

Question 2

What is an authority figure?

Answer 2

Someone who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour does not occur.

Question 3

What is destructive obedience?

Answer 3

When an individual obeys an order to do something immoral.

Question 4

What was the aim?

Answer 4

What to know if the Germans were different and more obedient to authority. If ordinary Americans would obey an unjust order from an authority figure.

Question 5

Procedure?

Answer 5

-40 male participants.
-Laboratory at Yale university.
-Participants were volunteers from an advert.
-One person would be randomly assigned teacher and the other learner.
-Deception, the real participant was always the teacher.
-Teacher would read the learner a series of word pairs and then test their recall.
-The teacher would shock the learner for each mistake.
-Shocks increased as time went on.

Question 6

Findings?

Answer 6

All real participants went up to 300 volts. 65% continued to 450 volts. Different to what the 14 students predicted. Estimated that no more than 3% would go to 450.

Question 7

Conclusions?

Answer 7

Under the right circumstances people will obey unjust orders. The Germans are not different to other people from other countries.