Milgram's Study on Obedience

Question 1

Define obedience

Answer 1

Form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. Person issuing the order is the authority figure, who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour is not displayed.

Question 2

Why did Milgram conduct a study on obedience

Answer 2

Wanted to know why a high amount of German people supported Hitler’s plan to kill millions of Jews during WW2.

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

-Lab experiment
-There is a teacher and a learner
Learner is strapped to a chair with electric shock plates.
-The learner answers Qs (confederate)
-Any incorrect answer will result in an electric shock
-Also for each incorrect answer the voltage is increased.
-It goes from 15 volts to 450 volts.
-The teacher would also hear a dialogue such as “ow I cant stand the pain” from the learner and then they would fall silent.
-If the teacher refused to give shocks then the experimenter would give a set of prods such as “ please continue” or “you have no choice but to continue

Question 4

Results

Answer 4

65% of participants continued to the highest level of 450v. All participants continued t0 300v.

Question 5

Conclusion

Answer 5

Normal people are extremely obedient to authority, even when asked to behave In an inhumane manner. It is not evil people who
commit atrocities, but ordinary people obeying authority.

Question 6

Situational variables definition

Answer 6

Milgram identified several factors that he
believed influenced the level of obedience shown by participants. They are all related to the external circumstances rather than to the personalities of the
people involved.

Question 7

What are the three situational variables Milgram identified in his research

Answer 7

1) Proximity

2)Location

3)uniform

Question 8

Variation 1
Proximity

Answer 8

-physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order. In Milgram’s study it would be the closeness of the teacher and the learner. In this variation both learner and teacher were seated in the same room. Obedience level dropped from 65% to 40%. This is because the teacher could experience the pain inflicted on the learner directly. When the learner refused to answer a question the teacher had to put the learner’s hand on an electric plate. In this touch proximity obedience dropped further down to 30%. In a third proximity condition the experimenter left the room and gave instructions over a telephone. In this condition obedience dropped to 20.5%

Question 9

Variation 2
Location

Answer 9

means the place the order is issued. Milgram changed the location to a run-down building rather than having the study conducted in yale university(original location of study). Obedience fell to 47.5%. This is because the perceived authority of experimenter changed

Question 10

Variation 3
Uniform

Answer 10

In the original study, the experimenter wore a grey lab coat as symbol of authority.
Milgram carried out a variation in which the experimenter was called away because of an inconvenient telephone call.The role of the experimenter was then taken over by an ‘ordinary member of the public in plain clothes. Obedience rate dropped to 20%.lowest one of all variations