Milgram: Responses to People in Authority (Social)

Question 1

When was Milgram’s study published?

Answer 1

1963

Question 2

What was the background to Milgram’s study?

Answer 2

Milgram wanted to investigate whether it was only Germans who were inherently evil after the holocaust and was particularly interested in destructive disobedience

Question 3

What did Milgram want to investigate?

Answer 3

Dispositional vs. situational hypothesis debate and the tendency of people to obey destructive orders from people in authority

Question 4

What data did Milgram collect prior to the study?

Answer 4

Data from psychology students who estimated only 1.2% of people would be able to get to 450V.

Question 5

What was the method used in Milgram’s study?

Answer 5

It was a controlled observation because there was no IV however Milgram described it as an experiment.

Question 6

What was the sample for Milgram’s study?

Answer 6

40 American men from the New Haven district between the ages of 20 and 50, with different jobs. They volunteered from newspaper adverts.

Question 7

What was the procedure for Milgram’s study?

Answer 7

-Participants were paid $4.50
-Met by the confederate and research team at Yale Uni on what the experiment was (they were told it was on learning)
-A fixed lottery made sure the participant was always the teacher and they saw the learner strapped into a chair with electrodes attached to his arms
-Teacher given 45V to show genuineness
-Teacher in adjacent room
-Teacher shocked learner when they got a question wrong (15-450V in 15V increments)
-Leaner pounded on wall at 300V and then stopped responding

Question 8

What was the false aim participants were told the experiment was on in Milgram’s study?

Answer 8

The effect of punishment on learning.

Question 9

What happened immediately after the experiment?

Answer 9

The participants were fully debriefed on the nature of the shocks and that they did not shock the learner at all. They were also told that the learner was in fact a confederate, an actor.

Question 10

How did the experimenter act in Milgram’s study?

Answer 10

When asked by the participant if they should proceed, they responded with a series of standardised prompts such as “please continue” and “please go on”

Question 11

When was the experiment over in Milgram’s study?

Answer 11

When the teacher refused to continue (was disobedient) or reached 450V (was obedient)

Question 12

How was data collected in Milgram’s study?

Answer 12

Through observations made by both the experimenter who was in the same room as the participant and others observed through one-way mirrors. Most sessions were also recorded

Question 13

What were the results of Milgram’s study?

Answer 13

-65% of people went up to 450V and 100% went up to 300V.
-However almost all participants showed signs of extreme distress when giving the shocks eg. sweating, trembling, stuttering, laughing nervously.
-3 had full-blown uncontrollable seizures.
-On completion, many obedient participants heaved sighs of relief, mopped their brows, or nervously fumbled cigarettes.

Question 14

What were the conclusions of Milgram’s study?

Answer 14

-People are surprisingly destructively obedient to people in authority positions, even when they don’t want to be and find it distressing.
-People obey because of situational factors which lead them to suspend their sense of autonomy and become an agent of the authority figure
-Dispositional factors influence the extent people will be obedient

Question 15

What are the strengths of the research method used in Milgram’s study?

Answer 15

-Easily controlled
-Can eliminate extraneous variables so it had good internal validity

Question 16

What are the weaknesses of the research method used in Milgram’s study?

Answer 16

-Doesn’t have good ecological validity because the task is not similar to real life situations
-Subjective because each observer interprets the data differently

Question 17

What type of data was collected in Milgram’s study and what are the strengths and weaknesses?

Answer 17

-Quantitative data (voltage reached). Can be easily compared between participants and is objective data. But there is no context
-Qualitative data (physical reactions of participants) subjective but represents the feelings of the participants in the moment and gives context

Question 18

What are the ethical considerations for Milgram’s study?

Answer 18

-Many struggled emotionally to deal with the experiment and had mental breakdowns (3 had seizures)
-Participants were deceived (shocks weren’t real and the aim they were told was false)
-Consented to an experiment on learning, not obedience so no informed consent
-Can withdraw at any point (though this is not clear)
-Debriefed afterwards

Question 19

What is the validity of Milgram’s study like?

Answer 19

-Lacks ecological validity (through the environment and the task). However the situation was respectable and the experiment was in a position of legitimate authority in that environment (wore a lab coat). Thus the position of authority is similar to some real life siuations.
-Lacks external validity
-Participants didn’t know what the experiment was for so no demand characteristics
-Extraneous variables controlled
-Had face validity

Question 20

Can Milgram’s study be considered reliable?

Answer 20

-Well controlled so easy to replicate
-Consistent (eg. same audio track, same environment)
-Each participant had a very similar experiment as it was in a lab setting
-Thus it is reliable

Question 21

Is there any sampling bias in Milgram’s study?

Answer 21

-All men (androcentric) in a similar age category.
-Can’t generalise to whole country
-Obtained from newspaper advert
-Volunteered themselves. Thus the sample is only people who read the newspaper, are willing to put themselves forwards, and maybe have a lot of free time.
-All from New Haven

Question 22

Can Milgram’s study be considered ethnocentric?

Answer 22

-All volunteers were from the same area of America so it can be considered ethnocentric
-However, the purpose of the study was to compare the behaviour of Americans to Germans

Question 23

What is an example of a practical application of Milgram’s study?

Answer 23

Another study analysed records of 37 plane crashes and suggested that in 25% of cases, the crash was a direct result of the pilot obeying orders from the ground. These results have clear implications for accident prevention.