Milgrams Study's

Question 0

How many pps were in the volunteer sample? How old were they? And What “Prestigious” university was the experiment held? In Milgrams original

Answer 0

40 male pps, 20-50 years old and Yale University

Question 1

What is the aim of Milgrams original 1963 study?

Answer 1

To establish how obedient pps would be when ordered to administer increasingly intense electric shocks by an authority figure even when they thought they were physically harming them.

Question 2

Who else was in the lab other than the pps? In Milgrams original

Answer 2

2 confederates, 1 experimenter (who wore a lab coat) and 1 learner.

Question 3

What was the increment volts given and what was the maximum? In Milgrams original

Answer 3

15volts and 450v Max

Question 4

Who gave mainly wrong answers and had scripted responses? In Milgrams original

Answer 4

The learner

Question 5

What were the pps reassured about? In Milgrams original

Answer 5

The experimenter would take full responsibility and that no permanent damage was being caused by the shocks

Question 6

What voltage did 100% go to in Milgrams original?

Answer 6

At least 300v

Question 7

What did 65% of the pps do?

Answer 7

Gave 450v to an apparently dead learner

Question 8

How many stopped between 300-375v? And what emotions did the pps show?

Answer 8

35% (14/40). Many showed signs of distress. Some had nervous laughter, wept, and begged believing they had killed someone. One even had a seizure.

Question 9

What was the conclusion of the Milgrams original study? And what did the study show?

Answer 9

In conclusion people were obedient because of the situation the were in, not because they were evil. The study showed the power of authority over our behaviour. Ordinary people were very obedient to authority when it meant harming other people and when participants were upset by what they had to do.

Question 10

What is the aim of Milgrams variation study?

Answer 10

To investigate whether the rate of obedience in Milgrams original study would be affected by witnessing rebellious or obedient fellow participants.

Question 11

How many participants were there and where was it?

Answer 11

80 pps and the prestigious Yale University.

Question 12

What did the pps have to do in Milgrams variation study?

Answer 12

Give stronger and stronger electric shocks (15v increments) to a “learner” each time he got a question based around word pairs wrong.

Question 13

How many conditions were there and how were they matched?

Answer 13

The rebellious conditions or the obedient condition. The 40 pps were matched in terms of age and occupation.

Question 14

What happened in condition 1?

Answer 14

• 2 rebellious confederates
• 1 real pps
• read out word pairs and informed the learner whether the response was correct. The real pp administered the shocks.
• the first confederate refuse to carry on shocking after 150v, the second 210v.
• the experimenter ORDERED the real pp to carry on when the confederates refused.

Question 15

What happened in condition 2?

Answer 15

• 2 obedient confederate teachers and 1 real pp/teacher. The confederates gave shocks without protest.

Question 16

What were the results of condition 1?

Answer 16

• 50% (20/40) of real pps stopped at 150v with the 1st rebellious confederates.
• 10% of real pps gave full 450v in comparison to 65% in the original study.

Question 17

What were the results of condition 2?

Answer 17

• 72.5% of true pps gave the full 450v.

Question 18

What was the conclusion of the variation study?

Answer 18

> the presence of fellow pps influenced the rates of obedience. The pps had more confidence to go against the authority when other people did so first. They were also more likely to be more obedient when other people were obedient.
The presence of rebellious confederates had a larger effect than obedient ones as the majority felt able to refuse orders once one or both of the confederates had done so.

Question 19

Why are Milgrams study’s high in reliability?

Answer 19

As they were carried out in a controlled lab setting and followed standardised, well controlled procedures and instructions. For example all pps dos the task one at a time and the responses given by the learner confederate were scripted so each pps had the same experience. As a result it is possible to replicate the procedure easily to see if similar results could be obtained, in fact the original study has been replicated in other countries and results were consistent.

Question 20

How were the cause and effect results reached?

Answer 20

They were reached because there were strong controls which avoided bias e.g. Milgram gave the experimenter scripted verbal prods to use so all received the same experience.

Question 21

What is the supporting evidence for Milgrams?

Answer 21

Hoflings field research conducted in a hospital. In this study 95% of nurses followed doctors orders and gave an overdose of a drug to a patient even though they knew they were breaking hospital policy. This study has high ecological validity as it was carried out in a real hospital setting and so supports that people obey an authority figure even when harming other people in real life.

Question 22

What are the positive contributions or real life applications from Milgrams research?

Answer 22

• Milgram shows how easy it is to follow a destructive route to dangerous obedience and that this knowledge can be used to avoid such incidents in the future.
• in jobs like the police and army blindly following orders from an authority figure can lead to illegal acts of suffering or death.
• police officers and soldiers should be trained to not blindly obey orders of they think they are morally wrong but instead double check with a superior figure.
• Milgram helps explain why children obey parents who they perceive as an authority figure because they have more power.

Question 23

Why is Milgrams study’s low in ecological validity?

Answer 23

• it was carried out in artificial lab setting at Yale University and not in their natural environment. Pps may have felt protected from the consequences of their actions e.g. The experimenter said he would take responsibility for the effects on the learner and therefore pps would not normally behave that way.
• this suggests that the results of Milgrams research may not reflect real life behaviour and cannot be generalised to real life settings as the pps may not behave in the same way outside of the experiment.

Question 24

Why are Milgrams study’s low in experimental validity?

Answer 24

~ they (pps) wouldn’t have believed the reality of the experiment because they don’t give electric shocks in their everyday lives.
~ pps would have felt protected from their actions because they assumed whatever happed at Yale was fine & so trusted to the study.

Question 25

How was the study also high in experimental validity?

Answer 25

The procedure made it very believable e.g. the pp meeting the learner, the rigged draw, a sample real 45v shock to the teacher, convincing equipment etc. And, there were also visible signs of mental anguish e.g. Sweating and these signs can’t be faked.

Question 26

Why do the studies have low population validity?

Answer 26

The samples in the studies were all american and make which makes it difficult to generalise to other cultures. *Therefore can be considered ethnocentric or androcentric.
*however, Milgram did test on an all female sample in exactly the same way and found identical levels of obedience, suggesting the findings were valid to females as well.

Question 27

What were the ethical issues of the study’s?

Answer 27

~ many pps suffered from psychological harm during the procedure and cried& begged to stop, they were also deceived and not give the full right to withdraw.
* However, all pps were debriefed and the majority (84%) were glad to have taken part.