Milgram's research

Question 1

what was milgram’s baseline research procedure

Answer 1

40 american men volunteered to take part in a study
each volunteer introduced to another ‘participant’ (a confederate)
drew lots to see who would be the ‘teacher’ and who would be the ‘learner’, the draw was fixed so the participant was always the teacher
an ‘experimenter’ was involved in a grey lab coat
the experimenter ordered the participant to give an increasingly strong electric shock to the learner in a different room (15 volt increases to 450 v)
shocks were fake, teacher was unaware

Question 2

what were the findings from Milgram’s baseline research

Answer 2

100% delivered all shocks up to 300 v
12.5% stopped at 300 v
65% continued all the way to 450 v (full obedience)
milgram also collected qualitative data including observations such as: participants displaying signs of tension (sweating, stuttering, groaning)

Question 3

what are the conclusions from Milgram’s baseline research

Answer 3

milgram concluded that german people are not ‘different’
the american participants in his study were willing to obey orders even when they might harm another person
suspected situational factors that encouraged obedience, so he conducted variations of his baseline research

Question 4

what is the research support for milgram’s research (strength)

Answer 4

milgram’s findings have been replicated in a french documentary that was made about reality TV
beauvois et al (2012) focused on a game show made especially for the documentary
participants in the ‘game’ were paid to give (fake) electric shocks to other ‘participants’ (actors) in front of a studio audience
80% of the participants delivered the maximum shock of 460 v with almost identical behaviour to those in milgram’s study
this supports milgram’s original findings, demonstrating the findings were not just due to special circumstances

Question 5

why does milgram’s research have low internal validity (limitation)

Answer 5

milgram reported that 75% of his participants said they believed the shocks were genuine
orne and holland (1968) argued participants behaved as they did because they didn’t believe in the set up, so they were ‘play-acting’
perry’s (2013) research confirms this, finding only half of milgram’s participants believed the shocks were real, 2/3 of these were disobedient
suggests that participants may have been responding to demand characteristics, trying to fulfil the aims of the study
so milgram may have actually been testing demand characteristics

Question 6

what is a counterpoint of the low internal validity (strength)

Answer 6

sheridan and king (1972) conducted a study with a procedure like milgram’s
participants gave real shocks to a puppy in response to orders from an experimenter
54% of men and 100% of women gave what they thought was a fatal shock
this suggests that the effects in milgram’s study were genuine because people behaved obediently even when the shocks were real

Question 7

what is an alternative interpretation of milgram’s findings (limitation)

Answer 7

milgram’s conclusions may not be justified
haslam et al (2014) showed that milgram’s participants obeyed when the experimenter delivered first 3 verbal prods
however with the 4th prod participants disobeyed without exception
according to social identity theory, participants in milgram’s study only obeyed when they identified with the scientific aims of the research, the first 3 prods mentioning the ‘experiment’
when they were ordered to blindly obey the experimenter, they refused
this shows that SIT may provide a more valid interpretation of milgram’s findings