Milgram (Obedience)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

-to investigate how obedient individuals would be to orders received from a person in authority

Question 2

Dispositional/situational debate

Answer 2

• considers whether the person’s individual characteristics or the conditions of their environment are more influential on levels of obedience.
• Dispositional: Germans are somehow different from others.
• Milgram suggested a situational explanation for obedience
• believed only 3% would deliver the maximum voltage shock

Question 3

Reserach metjod and design

Answer 3

• controlled observation
• participants’ levels of obedience were measured through observation which was operationalized as the maximum voltage given in response to the orders.

Question 4

Sample

Answer 4

• a newspaper advertisement
• 40 men between the ages of 20 to 50 years old
• lived in the New Haven area of the United States
• range of different backgrounds and occupations

Question 5

Procedure

Answer 5

• $4.5 for taking part
• Yale uni, in a modern laboratory
• the location was chosen to make the procedure seem legitimate, an imp situational factor in obedience
• stooge/confederate: a likable middle-aged man
• 15V to 450V
• example shock of 45V
• experimenter: 31 year old teacher who wore a grey technician’s coat and had a stern manner throughout
• said to be a memory task
• verbal prods were used
• one-way mirrors
• asked to estimate how painful they thought the final 450V shock was on a scale of 0-14

Question 6

Verbal Prods

Answer 6

• Please go on
• The experiment requires that you continue
• You have no other choice, you must go on

Question 7

Results (Quantitative)

Answer 7

• mean estimate of the pain of the 450V shock was 13.42 out of a maximum 14
• mean voltage given was 368V
• gave at least 300V
• 65% gave the maximum 450V shock

Question 8

Results (Qualitative)

Answer 8

• reported signs of nervousness
• sweating, shaking and groaning
• 14/40 men showed signs of nervous laughter or smiling
• 1 went through a violent seizure
• comments: ‘I don’t think I can go on with this… I don’t think this is very humane.
• ‘I am gonna chicken out…I can’t do that to a man, Ill hurt his heart’
• after the experiment showed signs of relief, wiped their faces, sighed and shook their heads
• some stayed calm

Question 9

Conclusion

Answer 9

• supports the idea of a situational explanation for obedience
• 2 main conclusions
• individuals are much more obedient to authority than we might reasonably expect. This seems to be true for the majority of people
• Despite high levels of obedience, ppl find the experience of carrying out destructive acts under the orders of authority figures triggers feelings of stress. This is due to conflict between two important social phenomena: the need to obey those in authority and the need to avoid harming other people.