Milgram (obedience)

Question 1

What are the main assumptions of the social approach?

Answer 1

1. Behaviours, cognitions and emotions are influenced by social contexts, social environments and groups.
2. Behaviours, cognitions and emotions are influenced by the actual, implied or imagined presence of others.

Question 2

What is the overview of milgram’s study?

Answer 2

He wanted to know whether people would be obedient even if it would result in physical harm to another person.

Question 3

How did he test his study?

Answer 3

He arranged his laboratory-based procedure to involve administering electric shocks to a victim under the orders of a researcher.

Question 4

Define obedience:

Answer 4

Following a direct order from a person or people with authority.

Question 5

Define destructive obedience:

Answer 5

Obedience that has potential to cause psychological or physical harm or injury to another.

Question 6

What is Milgram’s situational explanation for obedience?

Answer 6

Many people who found themselves in a similar situation (to the Germans who murdered the Jews in the holocaust) would harm or even kill other human beings under the orders of an authority figure.

Question 7

What is the aim of milgram’s study?

Answer 7

To investigate the level of obedience reached by normal people when a perceived authority figure instructs them to administer a physical punishment to a stranger.

Question 8

What are the research methods?

Answer 8

1. No IV, only a DV so it cannot be defined as an experiment.
2. Controlled observation through a one way mirror.
3. Interviews with participants after the study using a laboratory setting.

Question 9

What is the DV in this investigation?

Answer 9

Levels of obedience were measured through observation.

Observers also noted participants’s body language and any verbal comment

Question 10

What is the type of sample?

Answer 10

Volunteer sampling from a newspaper advertisement and direct mail.

Question 11

What was the ad for?

Answer 11

For a study on memory and learning at Yale University.

Question 12

Describe the population?

Answer 12

• 40 men between ages of 20 and 50 years old.
• Composed of those who lived in the New Havens area of the US.
• The men came from a range of different backgrounds, education levels and occupations.

Question 13

Explain the location of the study.

Answer 13

The study took place in a modern laboratory at Yale University to make the procedure seem legitimate which was an important situational factor in obedience.

Question 14

List the controls:

Answer 14

All participants were
1. paid $4.50 for participation
2. informed that it was a study about the effects of punishment.
3. told the same standardised prods.
4. given the same shock generator and a sample shock of 45 V
5. introduced to the same experimenter
6. debriefed after the study and had the deception explained to them.

Question 15

What were the participants told before drawings lots?

Answer 15

• We know very little about the effects of punishment on learning and this is because almost no scientific studies have been conducted on human beings.
• We don’t know whether it is beneficial to learning
• We don’t know how much difference it makes as to who is giving the punishment.
• In this study we are bringing together people from different occupations to test this out.

Question 16

Describe what happened to the stooge next.

Answer 16

Was strapped to a chair and had electrodes attached to his wrist with paste to ‘avoid blisters and burns’

Question 17

What was the participant told about the shocks?

Answer 17

The shocks were painful but caused no permanent tissue damage.

Question 18

Describe the shock generator.

Answer 18

• 30 lever switches.
• Ranged from 15V-450V.
  -Increased in 15 volts increments.
• Labelled from light shock to moderate shock to severe dangerous shock to XXX.
• An electric buzz emitted with each shock.

Question 19

Describe the learner.

Answer 19

• Likeable middle aged man.
• Irish American origin.
• 47 years old.
• Accountant.

Question 20

What was the memory task?

Answer 20

• It involved reading pairs of words aloud to the learner and testing them on their recognition of the words.
• They were ordered to increase the voltage of the shock each time a mistake was made and to announce the voltage before administering the shock.

Question 20

Describe the experimenter.

Answer 20

• 31 year old teacher.
• Stern manners.
• Wore a grey technicians coat.

Question 21

Describe the regular run after 300V.

Answer 21

At 300V there was pounding on the wall, after that the learner went silent and stopped answering questions completely.

Question 22

State the two reasons that resulted in termination of the procedure.

Answer 22

1- When the maximum voltage of 450V would be reached,.
2. When the participant refused to give any more shocks and all 4 prods were said.

Question 22

What were the findings of this study?

Answer 22

• 100% of participants reached 300V
• 65% (26) participants reached 450V

Question 22

What is the ‘interview and dehoax’ process?

Answer 22

• Participants were interviewed and had the deception explained fully to them.
• Participants were asked to rate how painful they thought shocks were from a scale of 1-14 (14 being the most painful).
• Participants met the learner and were assured that no harm had been done and were allowed to ask questions.

Question 23

What signs of tension showed?

Answer 23

Sweating, shaking, groaning, nervous laughter, seizures and verbal comments.

however a small % of participants showed no levels stress throughout the

Question 23

What situational factors aided obedience?

Answer 23

• Receiving $4.50
• Legitimate location of Yale University.
• Picking the role from a hat (meaning it is based on luck)
• Verbal prods
• Lab coat showed authority.

Question 23

What are the conclusions of this study?

Answer 23

• This study supports the situational explanation of obedience.
• People are more obedient to authority than expected.
• People who carry out destructive acts due to authority orders trigger high stress levels due to the conflict of the need to obey people in authority and the need to avoid harming people.