Milgram - study of obedience Flashcards
Define Obedience
Is obeying direct orders from someone in authority over you
Describe the aim of Milgram study on obedience
The aim was to test the idea that German’s were different from other people and able to carry out barbaric acts against Jews and other minority groups. Also to see if people would obey orders and give electric shocks to harm another person when ordered by an authority figure
Describe the procedure in Milgram Study
The shock generator had switched from 15v to 450v marked from a slight shock to danger. The experiment had 4 verbal prods including “the experiment required that you continue” If pp wished to stop after 4 verbal prods the experiment was stopped.
Describe the results of Milgram study on obedience
There were caused signs of extreme tension, sweating, trembling, nervous laughter from 14 pp’s and a seizure for 1 pp. At 300v, 5 pp’s (12.5%) refused to continue, whereas the remained 35 (65%) obeyed orders and gave shocks up to 450v
Explain the sample and sample size in Milgram Study
Ad in newspaper about an experiment at Yale to investigate memory and learning.The pp’s were 40 males aged between 20-50 from all education backgrounds. Paid $4.50 for the hour
Who was the experimenter and confederate
The experimenter was Mr Williams in a lab coat and Mr Wallace was who they believed was another pp but was an actor
Explain a strength of Milgram Study on obedience (application)
The study has application to society as Milgram found that 65% pps obeyed to the orders to shock to 450V. Therefore, this highlights how we can all easily be victims to such pressures. So we can use this information to understand that we need to train the military to question orders that are morally wrong to avoid future atrocities such as the Holocaust
Explain a strength of Milgram study on obedience (reliability)
The study is reliable as it has well controlled procedures. For example, there was a draw to find out who would be the ‘learner’ and who would be the ‘teacher.’ The draw was fixed so that the pp was always the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederates. Therefore, this study is replicable and has been repaired in many countries even though it is now more ethical such as Burgers Study in 2009
Explain a weakness of Milgram study on obedience (validity)
The study lacked ecological and task validity as the pp’s were asked to shock Mr Wallice in a lab at Yale University. Therefore, as they were not graduates and it was not a task they had been asked to do before they did not behave in the way that they would in every day life. When following orders
Explain a weakness of Milgram study on obedience (Ethics)
The study was not ethical as pp’s showed distress sometimes extreme. For example the pp’s began sweating, trembling, biting fingers and in.1 case a seizure. Therefore, showing that they suffered significant psychological harm when shocking Mr Wallace
