milgram & variations 10,13,7 Flashcards
what was milgram’s aim ?
too see what level of obedience would be shown when an authourtiy figure instructs a participant to administer electric shocks to another person.
what was milgram’s sample?
40, 20 - 50 year old males from a range of occupations from the new haven area. he used volunteer sampling from an advertisment in a news letter.
what was the study advertised as ?
a study about memory and learning
where did the experiment take place?
in a large lab at Yale university
what happened to participants on arrival?
they were introduced to an experimenter who was 31, male and wore a white technitians coat who appeared to be stern and emotionless.
what was the confederate like?
friendly and likeable
how did the participant and the confederate decide who was the learner and who was the teacher?
they pulled out of a rigged hat who would be learner and who would be teacher (all of the peices of paper had Teacher on them) and the participant had to pick first so that the confederate was always the learner.
how was the use of a shock generator justified to ptps?
it was explained that they were studying the impact of punishment on learning.
what happened after the participant picked “Teacher” out of the hat?
participants went with the experimenter who guided the confederate into another room - the participant then watched the experimenter strap the confederate into an electric chair.
what did the experimenter say when the confederate was strapped into the chair infront of the participant?
“althought these shocks may be extremeley painful they cause no permanent tissue damage”
what sample shock did the teacher ptp recieve?
45 volts
what did the teacher have to do?
read out a series of word pairs, which the learner then had to recall, communicating this by pressing buttons. if they got the answers wrong they were shocked.
how much did the shocks go up by ?
15v
what was the maximum voltage?
450 v
how many ptps obeyed to 300 v?
all 40 - 100%
how many ptps obeyed to 450 v?
65%
how many ptps stopped some time before 450 v ?
35%
did participants show any sign of moral strain?
yes, they showed signs of nervousness, tension, they sweated, trembeled and stuttered.
what happened if the participant turned to the experimenter to ask if they should continue?
they were given verbal prods:
- “please continue”
- “the experiment requires that you continue”
- “it is absolutely essential that you continue”
- “you have no other choice you must go on”
what was variation 13
Mr. Williams the experimenter, leaves the room after giving the verbal instructions, however he does not mention that the ptps must go up by 15v each time an question is answered wrong.
what were the results of variation 13?
only 20% were obedient to 450 v
what conclusions can be made from variation 13?
that the presence of someone in status and uniform giving verbal prods is important when wanting someone to obey.
what was variation 10?
they moved the location of the study to a run down office block in a busy town (Bridgeport) which has no relation to stanford uni - the experimenter also claims he works fro a firm production.
what were the results of variation 10?
more questions were asked by the participants and one person called the study “heartless”
obedience dropped to 45.5% - although milgram didn’t think this was significant enough.