Milgram's research Flashcards
Obedience study
What was the question Milgram wanted to answer?
Why such a high proportion of the German people supported Hitler’s plan to slaughter over 6 million Jews in the Holocaust as well as 5 million Romani, homosexuals, Poles and members of other social groups
What is obedience?
A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order usually has authority with the power to punish
How did Milgram select his participants?
Recruited 40 male participants (aged between 20 - 50) through newspaper ads and flyer in the post. The ads said he was looking for people to participate in a memory study
How did Milgram “trick” participants?
A confederate always ended in the role of Learner while another confederate was Researcher and the true participant was always Teacher
How was the experiment set up?
The confederate was in a chair, in another room, wired with electrodes. The Teacher was required to give the Learner electric shocks each time the Learner made a mistake on the learning task. The shocks were not real and the participant as told they could leave at any point
How did the experiment proceed?
Shock level started at 15 and rose through 30 levels to 450 volts. When the participant got to 300 volts the Confederate pounded on the wall and didn’t answer the next question. After 315 volts the Confederate pounded on the wall again and didn’t answer any more questions. When the Participant turned to the experimenter for guidance the experimenter gave a standard response to keep going
What were Zimbardo’s findings?
No participant stopped below 300 volts, 12.5% stopped at 300 volts, 65% continued to the highest level of 450 volts. Participants showed extreme signs of tension
Why were the psychology students wrong?
They predicted no more than 3% would continue to 450 volts, findings were not expected
How did Zimbardo end the experiment?
All participated were debriefed and told their behaviour was completely normal. A follow up questionnaire was given out and 84% said they were glad they participated
