Milgram's Experiment (1963)

Question 1

What was the aim of the experiment?

Answer 1

to research obedience to authority figures, even at the risk of another person’s physical wellbeing; stems from Milgram’s question to find out if it was strictly a German thing to have the ability to be destructively cruel as part of the aftermath of the Holocaust

Question 2

How many participants were selected for the experiment?

Answer 2

40

Question 3

How were the participants selected?

Answer 3

volunteer sampling - adverts in local newspapers offered $4.50 to individuals who wanted to participate in a “test of memory”

Question 4

What were the issues with the sample?

Answer 4

• ethnocentric
• androcentric
• relatively small sample size
• some age bias

Question 5

Give three quantitative findings of the experiment.

Answer 5

• 100% of the participants went up to 150V
• 65% of the participants went up to 450V
• 35% of the participants showed some sort of visible distress (ie. shaking, sweating, biting lips etc.)