milgrams obedience research Flashcards
what is obedience
when an individual follows a direct order, the person issuing the order is usually in a form of authority and has power
what was the procedure of milgrams baseline study
- 40 american males who volunteered to take part in the study
- yale university conducted
- drew lots to see who would be assigned to each role within the study however this was rigged as the real participant was always assigned the role of the teacher and confederate learner
- participants were required to test the learners ability to recall pairs of words, each time the learner got one wrong the teacher have a fake electric shock increasing in intervals of 15V up to 450V
what were the results from milgrams baseline study
all 40 participants obeyed up to 300 volts
65% went up to 450V
participants showed signs of nervousness and tension
what were the conclusions drew from milgrams original study
ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an human
what research support is there for milgrams research, produce PEEL points
P: replicated in a french documentary that was made about reality TV
E: participants believed they were real contestants in a pilot episode of a game show
E: They were paid to give fake electric shocks ordered by the presenter to other participants who were actually actors
L: 80% of participants gave the maximum shock of 460V to an appearently unconscious man, the behaviour was almost identical to that of milgrams participants, supporting milgrams original findings and shows they were not down to special circumstances
why can milgram be criticised for having low internal validity
P: one limitation of milgrams procedure is that he was not measuring what he had actually intended to measure
E: milgram reported that 75% participants believed the shocks were genuine
E: however, alternative research suggests that participants did not truly believe the set up and were play acting, later research divided participants into believers and doubters, the believers were more likely to disobey (2/3) were doubters
L: therefore, suggests that participants were actually responding to demand characteristics challenging the validity of the findings
what is a counterpoint to the issues of internal validity in milgrams study, produce counter points
P: however, sheridan and king did a milgram-like study, but participants were delivering real shocks to a puppy in response to orders from an experimenter
E: 54% of males and 100% females delivered what they thought to be a fatal shock
L: this suggests that maybe milgrams results were genuine because people behaved obediently even when the shocks were real
C: however, this piece of research also suggests individual differences play a role in obedience as there was varying levels between males and females, something that milgram did not account for with his biased sample
why can milgram be criticised ethically
Deception: they believed they were taking part of a study about punishment and learning, role allocation rigged
Protection from harm: participants showed signs of distress during the experiment and may have continued to feel guilty after the experiment
Critics argue that these breaches could serve to damage the reputation of psychology and jeopardise future research
what counterpoint is there for the ethics in milgrams study
however, the rewards may outweigh the cost
arguably the importance of the research could justify the procedures as the research is important in society for determining factors that affect obedience to authority, we can understand and explain how atrocities came around in the real world
