Milgram’s Study + Obedience Flashcards
Definition of obedience:
A type of social influence which causes a person to react in response to an order given by another person
When was Milgram’s study conducted?
1963
Aim of Milgram’s study:
Interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person
What age range did Milgram use?
20-50
(MS) How many people + what gender were they?
40 males
(MS) how did they determine their roles?
Drew straws to determine roles- learner or teacher- confederate was always the learner
(MS) what was the teacher told to do?
- administer a shock every time the learner got a question wrong
- shocks went from 0-450V over 30 switches
- 450V was labelled “extreme danger”
(MS) what were the learners told to do?
Get the questions wrong on purpose
(MS) What were the four prods which the experimenter gave the teacher?
- Please continue
- The experiment requires you to continue
- It is absolutely essential that you continue
- You have no other choice but to continue
(MS) how many teachers continued to 450V?
65% (2/3rds) of the population
(MS) How many volts did all teachers continue to?
300 V
(MS) how many variations did Milgram do?
18 variations - altered the IV to see how this would affect the DV
(MS) sampling method:
- newspaper advertisements
- voluntary sampling- believed they were participating in a study on memory and learning at Yale University
(MS) Pros:
- Objective experimenter (more valid)
- Age range of 20-50- generalisability
(MS) Cons:
- only used males- gender bias- generalisability
- no informed consent, there’s deceit, should protect the participants from harm- bad ethics
Variations of Milgram’s study:
- proximity
- location
- uniform
- someone else to do the deed
(MS) how did continuation levels vary when proximity levels varied?
- teacher and learner in the same room
- less- 40%
(MS) how did continuation levels vary when the location changed?
- the study was moved from the university research lab to a run down office building
- lower- 47.5%
(MS) how did continuation levels vary when uniform was different?
- the experimenter was replaced with a member of the public (a confederate)
- lower- 20%
(MS) how did continuation levels vary when someone else was to do the deed?
- the teacher gets paired with someone they make deliver the shocks by pressing the switches
- higher- 92.5%
What is the legitimacy of authority?
Society tends to be structured according to a hierachy
Signs which indicate authority:
- Manners/ tone of voice
- Uniform
- Qualification
- Our own social hierarchy
How does LOA explain obedience in Milgram’s study?
- allows ‘agentic shift’
- Milgram was in Yale- very prestigious
- prods
- official
What is the agentic state?
- the condition a person is in when he sees himself as an agent for another persons wishes
- moving from being in an autonomous state (having free will) to becoming an agent
- once a person sees themself in this state they may still feel a ‘moral strain’, however, still remain in an agentic state due to binding factors (prods to carry on)
