Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience & the Stanford Prison Experiment

Question 1

Milgram’s study

Answer 1

Shock study, both how likely people will shock someone who was being shocked by others, and how likely someone will continue to shock someone when person of power tells them to.

Question 2

Milgram basic paradigm

Answer 2

-Only 14 (out of 40) stopped prior to reaching the 450-volt switch
-6 stopped after hearing the protest at 150 volts (one participant had stopped earlier)
-About 65% of participants continued to the end of the dial
-Milgram have surveyed his colleagues before running the experiment-on average they thought only 1 in 1000 people would go all the way to the end of the dial
-Most variations were tried to determine if the effects were due to situational factors
-Psychologists thought that obedience would not be as common as it was, so they need to test the boundary conditions

Question 3

Milgram variations and how they affect conformity

Answer 3

Varying the proximity of “learner”
Proximity:
Body proximity-Same room
Touch proximity-teacher had to touch learner
Different room-can’t see learner but can hear learner
Different remote room-can’t see and can’t hear learner
Varying the experimenter
Baseline-experimenter in same room as participant
Experimenter absent-orders over telephone
Experimenter as ordinary person
2 conflicting experimenters
More variations on the experiment
Gender had no effect
Obedience dropped when placed in office building (47%)
Due to participants being in a familiar context
Lack of experimenter authority in that situation
When two confederates rebelled, obedience dropped to 10%
Role models for defiance-norms are changed

Question 4

Milgram connection to history

Answer 4

Holocaust stuff

Question 5

Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 5

duh

Question 6

Stanford classic interpretation (social roles)

Answer 6

Initially thought ppl just took up teh roles they were in

Question 7

Stanford contemporary interpretation (identity leadership)

Answer 7

Now realize a lot of it was encouraged by those in leadership positions.
Identity Leadership:
-Cultivate a sense of shared ingroup identity
-Define ingroup goals as noble and virtuous
-Outline action necessary for advancement of ingroup goals
Engaged followership:
-Embrace sense of shared ingroup identity
-Understand action necessary for advancement of ingroup goals
-Work toward leaders by responding enthusiastically and creatively to their pronouncement
Creation of ingroup identity with warden, guards, and zimbardo

Question 8

Stanford BBC TV show

Answer 8

durr