Milgram’s Original Study

Question 1

How to outline a study (A01)?

Answer 1

Aim
Procedure
Findings
Conclusion

Question 2

what was the aim of the experiment?

Answer 2

to investigate if people from other countries could obey to the same extent Germans did in holocaust (destructive obedience)

Question 3

what was the procedure?

Answer 3

• Sample of 40 volunteers recruited. They were all white men between 20-50 years old in New Haven (USA)
• Upon arrival, participants are introduced to two men: the experimenter in a grey technician’s coat (Mr Williams) and “Mr Wallace”, a fake participant (confederate)
• They were told they were randomly assigned ‘Teacher’ and ‘Learner’ roles, however, the participant was always the ‘Teacher’
• The ‘Learner’ had to learn a list of word pairs
• The ‘Teacher’ and is in a separate room with the experimenter, testing the ‘Leaner’ through a two-way microphone
• If the ‘Learner’ gets the answer wrong, the teacher was instructed to give an electric shock. The shock increases with each wrong answer, ranging from 15V to 450V
• Eventually the ‘Learner’ stops responding to the ‘Teacher’
• The experimenter would instruct the ‘Teacher’ to continue to administer shocks with a set of 4 standardised prods:
  Prod 1: please continue
  Prod 2: the experiment requires that you continue
  Prod 3: it is absolutely essential that you continue
  Prod 4: you have no other choice but to continue
• The experiment ended either when the participant administered the highest shock, or kept protesting after the fourth prod was given
• In the post-study interview, participants were informed the ‘Learner’ was never shocked

Question 4

What were the findings?

Answer 4

• 65% of his sample administered the full 450V shock
• 100% continued to 300V
• Participants were observed to tremble, sweat and bite their lips, 35% exhibiting nervous laughter
• Three participants had uncontrollable seizures

Question 5

What was the conclusion?

Answer 5

majority of people would obey and do things that go against their moral beliefs. suggests that people do demonstrate destructive obedience, Germans aren’t different and people from aany background could commit horrific acts while obeying an authority figure

Question 6

How to evaluate a study (A03)?

Answer 6

• Identification - Identify what strength/weakness you will discuss
• Justification - Justify the relevance of that strength/weakness to the study/theory. How do we see the strength/weakness in this specific study/theory
• Elaboration - How does the strength/weakness make the study/theory more or less useful and why

Question 7

Define population validity (weakness)

Answer 7

the degree to which study results from a sample can be generalised to a longer target group of interest (the population)

Question 8

Evaluate population validity

Answer 8

I - One weakness of the study is the low population validity
J - The subjects of the experiment were 40 males between the ages of 20 and 50, drawn from New Haven (USA) and surrounding communities.
E - Therefore we cannot be sure that the findings on obedience Milgram found based on this sample are generalisable to other cultures or women.

Question 9

Define mundane realism (weakness)

Answer 9

The degree to which the materials and procedures involved in an experiment are similar to the events that occur in the real world

Question 10

evaluate mundane realism

Answer 10

I - One issue with the study is that is has low mundane realism as the task was highly artificial.
J - The task of being told to shock another person like in the experiment is unlike everyday examples of obedience such as answering a question a teacher instructs you to complete
E - Therefore, the findings of obedience demonstrated in this shocking task might no tbe applicable to explain obedience or defiance of an authority in more mundane/ everyday tasks

Question 11

Define a controlled experiment (strength)

Answer 11

An experiment where many things are kept consistent, while only the independent variable is changed and only the dependent variable is measured. Should show a cause effect relationship, this will allow researchers to be sure their findings are due to their manipulation

Question 12

Define cause effect relationship

Answer 12

where the independent variable causes the change in the dependent variable

Question 13

evaluate the high control of the experiment

Answer 13

I - One strength of this study is that the experiment was highly controlled
J - this is because all participants went through the same procedure in the same environment and setting. The experimenter also delivered the same 4 prods to every participant who didn’t wish to continue
E - This suggests that the participants obeyed due to the experiment’s procedure, rather than any external factors, demonstrating a cause effect relationship between authority and obedience.

Question 14

Define real world application (strength)

Answer 14

Do the results aid our understanding enough to help develop treatment for psychological disorders, put measures in to prevent situations from occurring again or aid the education system, healthcare system, judicial system or the economy?

Question 15

Evaluate real world application

Answer 15

I - one strength of this study is its useful as it is a real life application
J - As Tarnow (2000) has used Milgram’s findings on obedience to train trainee pilots to challenge errors made by their captain. Tarnow believes this training can reduce up to 20% of potential plane crashes.
E - there the findings show that people obey authorities and has been used to create trainings to challenge orders which can save lives