Milgram's experiment

Question 1

When did the experiment take place?

Answer 1

1963

Question 2

What was the aim of the experiment?

Answer 2

To see if people would obey someone who appeared as a legitimate authority figure

Question 3

What sampling technique was used?

Answer 3

Volunteer newspaper advertisement

Question 4

Number of participants

Answer 4

40 males

Question 5

Procedure

Answer 5

Teacher or learner (rigged to T)
Participant given shock
Increasing shock 15V every time wrong answer to 450V
Prods given asked to continue

Question 6

What were the findings?

Answer 6

100% went to 300V
65% went to 450V

Question 7

What did Orne and Holland (1968) criticize ?

Answer 7

lacked experimental realism (didn’t think the shocks were real)

Question 8

What was Milgram’s response to Orne and Holland?

Answer 8

75% of the P’s believed the shocks were real

Question 9

What was Sheridan and King’s experiment in 1972?

Answer 9

shocking a real puppy, 20/26 went to full voltage
All 13 women obeyed to the final voltage

Question 10

What was the Hofling et al. study in 1966?

Answer 10

Nurses asked to give a lethal dose of a medication, 21/22 obeyed doctor

Question 11

What was the Rank and Jacobson 1977 experiment?

Answer 11

Nurses asked to give lethal dose but had a chance to discuss, 2/18 nurses obeyed orders, suggesting social support

Question 12

historical validity?

Answer 12

Burger in 2009 and Dolinski in 2017 found similar levels of obedience

Question 13

What were the ethical issues of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 13

• Deception, did not know true aims
• Lack of informed consent
• protection from harm
• right to withdraw (4 prods)

Question 14

Explanations of Obedience

Answer 14

Location - 48% obedience
Proximity to victim - 40%
touch proximity - 30%
remote authority - 21%
illegitimate experimenter - 20%
allies - 10%
peer administered shock - 90%

Question 15

What was Bickman’s experiment 1974?

Answer 15

Civilian, milkman or guard
92% complied with guard
49% complied with civilian

Question 16

What are the 2 states affecting obedience?

Answer 16

Autonomous - voluntary actions in power
Agentic - acting as an agent of someone else

Question 17

What is a dispositional explanation for obedience?

Answer 17

Authoritarian personality (which can be shown on the F-scale by Adorno et al)

Question 18

Research supporting dispositional explanations for obedience?

Answer 18

Obedient participants had a higher F-scale level so more authoritarian personality
This link is a positive correlation, but politically biased test

Question 19

What problems are there with the F-scale?

Answer 19

All items are worded in the same direction so measure people’s tendency to agree to everything
Demand characteristics