Milgram's study of obedience 1963 Flashcards
what was the aim of the study?
to investigate the level of obedience when told by an authority figure to give electric shocks, and to investigate the ‘Germans are different’ hypothesis
who did the sample consist of?
40 men aged 20-50, with various occupational backgrounds, all from New Haven in America.
how where the sample gathered?
an advert was put into a local newspaper and ppts. were paid $4.50 for participating (volunteer sampling)
what was the method?
(lab based experiment)
the role of the experimenter was played by a 31 year old high school biology teacher, with an impassive manner and stern appearance, who wore a grey technicians coat.
the victim was played by a 47 year old accountant, who was trained for the role, most observers found him likeable.
what was the procedure?
stooge strapped into chair with electrodes attached to it.
the learning task asked the subject to read word pairs to ‘learner’ & read the first word along with 4 terms
if the learner was wrong, he was given a shock, each time a wrong answer was given, the voltage was increased by 15v
learner and teacher in separate rooms
what were examples of verbal prods used by the experimenter?
“please continue, please go on”
“it is absolutely essential that you continue”
what were the results of the experiment? (quantitative)
65% of ppts. went all the way to the maximum voltage of 450v
100% went up to 300v
what were the results of the experiment? (qualitative)
those who went the full way demonstrated extreme stress, sweating, trembling etc.
14/40 subjects showed definite signs of nervous laughter and smiling, the laughter seeming entirely out of place and bizarre.
what were the conclusions of this study?
milligram concluded there were a number of reasons why pets. obeyed instructions from the experimenter:
took place at Yale University and was seen as very prestigious
obligation felt by ppt not to ruin the study by leaving
