Milgrams Orginal Experiment Flashcards
What was the aim of Milgrams Original Experiment?
To understand why people are so blindly obedient to authority figures and to what extent would they obey.
Describe the procedure of Milgrams original experiment (4 marks)
The procedure included a sample of 40 male participants, aged between 20-50 all from New Haven. The method involved having a confederate (told how to behave and act) experimenter who represented the authority figure wearing a lab coat. There was also the teacher, who was always the participant, and a confederate student. Both the student and the experimenter were aware of the true aim, while the teacher was deceived by being informed that the aim of the experiment was to test the effect of punishment on learning. Each participant was requested to shock the learner when they identified the wrong word pair, with the voltage increasing with each incorrect answer with the lowest voltage being 15V and the highest being 450V. The student responses were recorded and standardised meaning each participant heard the same response at the same voltage. If the teacher began to display resistance, they were requested by the experimenter to continue using the same four prompts.
What were the results of Milgrams Original Experiment?
65% of people went all the way to 450V, while 100% of people went to 300V (dangerous), this was shocking as they had only originally thought 2% would obey all the way to the end. Therefore, showing that people would still obey authority figures even if it went against their own morals. Furthermore, results also displayed signs of distress within the participants this included nervous laughter, biting nails, rubbing hands over head and agitation.
What type of experiment was Milgrams original experiment?
Laboratory experiment (artificial)- this means that it was carried out in a controlled setting and therefore couldn’t be replicated in a real world environment
How was Milgrams Original Experiment critiqued?
The experiment was accused of lacking internal validity by Orne and Holland, as participants know that people in psychology experiments dont come to harm. Therefore, the participant would obey the experimenters orders, whereas they would not obey the same orders given by somebody else. Additionally, the experiment was critiqued as it was claimed that the participants within the experiment knew the shocks weren’t real, or at least wondered why such severe shocks were used in a trivial experiment. Therefore, the participants may have been affected by demand characteristics.
In a questionnaire completed the following year, what percentage of participants believed they were really inflicting painful shocks?
56.1%
In a questionnaire completed the following year, what percentage of participants were certain the shocks weren’t real?
2.3%
Evaluate Milgrams Original Experiment. (8 marks)
Generalisability- Weakness
40 males aged between 20-50 from New Haven
Therefore, results cannot represent whether females or people living in other areas would obey the same.
Reliability- Strength
High levels of Test- retest reliability because he used a standardised procedure meaning all participants had the same experience. The same levels of voltage was used, same confederate experimenter and student.
Therefore, results are reliable and the investigation can be replicated to see whether results are consistent.
Application- Strength
Results can be used to understand obedience in real world events
Holocaust- mass genocide was caused inflicted by Nazi soldiers who obeyed Adolf Eichmann who obeyed Hitler.
Validity- Weakness
Lacked internal validity as the investigation was criticised as people believed the participants were impacted by demand characteristics. People argued that the participants knew the shocks were not real and they would realise that participants would not come to harm in psychological experiments.
However, a survey conducted the following year found that 2% of participants had not believed the shocks were real.
Lacks ecological validity because the procedure was undertaken in an artificial laboratory setting, therefore the investigation cannot be replicated in the real world.
Ethics- Weakness
Unethical because Milgram did not gain fully informed consent from the participants because they were deceived as they were told the aim was about how punishment affects memory.
Although Milgram would argue this was necessary as participants would have been affected by demand characteristics if they were told the true aim.
Hawthorne theory- participants will try and meet the aim
Screw you theory- participants will purposefully challenge the aim.
Milgram did not protect participants as they were subjected to psychological harm as a result of inflicting the shocks, participants exhibited their distress through nervous laughter, biting nails and becoming aggressive.
Milgram’s experiment has been criticised as participants were conflicted on their right to withdraw as a result of the experimenters prompts to continue, however participants had been debriefed about their rights beforehand.
What ethical guidelines did Milgrams Original Experiment break?
Fully Informed Consent
Deception
Right to Withdraw
Protection of Participants
How did Milgrams Original Experiment break Fully informed consent?
Milgram broke this guideline as he informed the participants that they were investigating the effects of punishment on memory.
Therefore, the participants were not fully aware of the true aim which could have influenced their willingness to participate.
How did Milgrams Original Experiment break deception?
Milgram broke this as he deceived his participants about the aim of the experiment, however by telling participants about the true intentions of the experiment they may have influenced the measurement of obedience due to demand characteristics.
Hawthorne theory- participants will try to meet the aim
Screw you theory- participants will purposefully go against the aim
How did Milgrams Original Experiment break the right to withdraw?
Milgram broke this due to the experimenters prompts throughout the experiment.
However, Milgram also didn’t break this guideline as the participants were volunteers and therefore had been debriefed about their rights before the experiment.
This could have been overcome by reminding the participants that they could leave before the experiment, during the experiment when the participants were distressed and after the experiment.
How did Milgrams Original Experiment break protection of participants?
Milgram broke this as the participants were subjected to a lot of distress. However, Milgram justified this as he only thought 2% would go all the way to 450V.
How did Milgrams Original Experiment maintain debrief?
Milgram maintained this guideline as he discussed the true nature of the investigation after the experiment. However, he had to offer interventions and treatment to reduce the harm caused by the study.
