milgram & variations 10,13,7

Question 1

what was milgram’s aim ?

Answer 1

too see what level of obedience would be shown when an authourtiy figure instructs a participant to administer electric shocks to another person.

Question 2

what was milgram’s sample?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

what was the study advertised as ?

Answer 3

a study about memory and learning

Question 4

where did the experiment take place?

Answer 4

in a large lab at Yale university

Question 5

what happened to participants on arrival?

Answer 5

they were introduced to an experimenter who was 31, male and wore a white technitians coat who appeared to be stern and emotionless.

Question 6

what was the confederate like?

Answer 6

friendly and likeable

Question 7

how did the participant and the confederate decide who was the learner and who was the teacher?

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

how was the use of a shock generator justified to ptps?

Answer 8

it was explained that they were studying the impact of punishment on learning.

Question 9

what happened after the participant picked “Teacher” out of the hat?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

what did the experimenter say when the confederate was strapped into the chair infront of the participant?

Answer 10

“althought these shocks may be extremeley painful they cause no permanent tissue damage”

Question 11

what sample shock did the teacher ptp recieve?

Answer 11

45 volts

Question 12

what did the teacher have to do?

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

how much did the shocks go up by ?

Answer 13

15v

Question 14

what was the maximum voltage?

Answer 14

450 v

Question 15

how many ptps obeyed to 300 v?

Answer 15

all 40 - 100%

Question 16

how many ptps obeyed to 450 v?

Answer 16

65%

Question 17

how many ptps stopped some time before 450 v ?

Answer 17

35%

Question 18

did participants show any sign of moral strain?

Answer 18

yes, they showed signs of nervousness, tension, they sweated, trembeled and stuttered.

Question 19

what happened if the participant turned to the experimenter to ask if they should continue?

Answer 19

they were given verbal prods:

1. “please continue”
2. “the experiment requires that you continue”
3. “it is absolutely essential that you continue”
4. “you have no other choice you must go on”

Question 20

what was variation 13

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

what were the results of variation 13?

Answer 21

only 20% were obedient to 450 v

Question 22

what conclusions can be made from variation 13?

Answer 22

that the presence of someone in status and uniform giving verbal prods is important when wanting someone to obey.

Question 23

what was variation 10?

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

what were the results of variation 10?

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

what was variation 7?

Answer 25

the experimenter gave instructions before leaving the room, any questions that ptps had they were asked to use the phone to contact the experimenter and the prods were done other the phone.

Question 26

whar were the results of variation 7?

Answer 26

obedience fell to 22.5% - many participants didn’t give the correct voltage

Question 27

what conclusions were made from variation 7?

Answer 27

that physical presence was important in people obeying to authority.