milgram description

Question 1

meth -what was the aims of the study ?

Answer 1

to test the extent of humans willingness to obey orders from an authoritative figure

Question 2

meth -where was study conducted

Answer 2

in a lab environment / well controlled

Question 3

meth- observation or experiment

Answer 3

observation

Question 4

meth - participants

Answer 4

40 males aged between 20-50 years

Question 5

meth - how did milgram gain his participants

Answer 5

advertisement in newspaper

Question 6

meth- what did milgram tell the participants the study was about

Answer 6

would be taking part in research about memory and learning

Question 7

meth - participants range of jobs and how much did he pay them

Answer 7

postal clerk , engineer, policeman etc $4,50

Question 8

proc- first step

Answer 8

the participants met with the ‘experimenter’ , 31 year old man dressed in lab coat , another ‘participant’ was already there 47 year old accountant (mr wallace)
they were both confederates and both involved in study

Question 9

proc - second step

Answer 9

participants drew slips of paper to decide which of the two would be the teacher and who would be the student
selection was rigged - participant was always the teacher

Question 10

proc - third step

Answer 10

learner and teacher were taken to experimental room - learner strapped into ‘electric chair’
electrode placed on learners wrist which was linked to shock generator

Question 11

proc - shock machine

Answer 11

teacher was sat infront of shock machine
had 30 switches
starting at 15 volts to 450 volts
every 4 labels were shock labels
experimenter gave teacher a sample shock to make sure they knew it was real

Question 12

proc - learning task

Answer 12

teacher was told to shock learner if they gave a wrong answer and to raise the voltage every time and also having to say the level of voltage out loud
learner was told to to not make any comments until 300 voltage

Question 13

proc - feedback from experimenter

Answer 13

experimenter was trained to give 4 prod if the teacher hesitated examples ‘please continue’ ‘the experiment requires that you continue’ ‘it is absolutely essential that you continue’ ‘you have no other choice, you must continue’ and lastly ‘although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent damage , so you must go on’

Question 14

proc- debrief

Answer 14

after research was completed the teacher was debriefed and then they were met again with the learner
then interviewed about their experience in the study

Question 15

find-
quantitative data - numerical

Answer 15

prior to study a survey with 14 responses - estimated that only 0-3% of them would administer the 450 volts
showed wild underestimate
26 out of 40 of participants went to 450 volts
five participants refused to go on at 300 (when the learner made their first protest)

Question 16

find- qualitative data - characteristics

Answer 16

participants were seen to be nervous and to sweat ,tremble, stutter, bite their lips, groan and dig their nails into their skin
14 displayed nervous laughter
in the debrief the participants explained their laughter was due to nervousness and not that they were enjoying it
3 participants had ‘full blown uncontrollable seizures’ and one had such a violent convulsion the research had to be stopped

Question 17

conc- main conclusion of the study

Answer 17

that it was the circumstances that the participant found themself in that made them obey to the study

Question 18

conc - circumstances examples (7)

Answer 18

1, location of study being at a prestigious uni
2, participants assumed experimenter knew what he was doing so therefore they felt the need to obey him
3, participant didnt want to disrupt the study as they felt obligated to continue as they were the ones that decided to volunteer to the study
4, because the participant was unable to discuss their choices with somebody else other than the experimenter they didnt now how to act
5, participant had little time to resolve conflict from the learner who was in pain
6, participant assumed pain was temporary and findings of the study was more important
7, conflict between to hurt someone and to obey somebody of authority

Question 19

evaluation - internal validity

Answer 19

lacks internal validity as participants didnt believe electric shocks were real therefore the participants acted as they would be expected to , demand characteristics
participants knew they weren’t hurting anybody as they were suspicious of the fact that the experimenter was so calm
but on the other hand 75% of partcipants did believe it was real

Question 20

evaluation - ethics

Answer 20

caused psychological damage to the participants
milgram stated that he didn’t realise there would be so many signs of distress throughout the study
84% of participants said they were glad to be involved in the study
also psychological damage to participants can be weighed up against how significant the findings were to the study
can be argued that milgram failed his duty for care because some of his participants were waiting up to a year to get a debrief despite they had left the lab believing that they had killed the learner