Milgrams Variation studies - 10, 7, 13 Flashcards
Aim of the variations
Milgram’s aim of these variations was to investigate situational factors which encourage or discourage dissent
Experiment 10 - Run down office block - P1, A01
Milgram aimed to investigate whether the prestigious university setting on obedience levels
The experiment was moved to a rundown building in the Bridgeport area near Yale, but with all links to Yale removed
Researchers said they were from a private firm
Findings showed that obedience rates dropped from 65% to 47.5% - interviews showed that participants voiced doubts about the legitimacy of the research
conclusion - situational factors are important. the shabby setting compared to the original prestigious context of Yale reduced the legitimacy of the experimenter but the link to ‘science’ was enough to encourage relatively high levels of obedience
Strength of Experiment 10 - P1, A03
One strength of Milgram’s experiment 10 is that both qualitative and quantitative data was collected.
For example, Milgram recorded dialogue between participants and researchers
the transcripts involving 36 participants were reanalysed by Modigliani and Rochat in 1995
they found that the earlier in the procedure the participant challenged the experimenter, the more likely they were to be fully defiant
Therefore, this qualitative data allowed Modigliani and Rochat to gain deeper insight and explain the ‘ordinariness of goodness’ displayed by people who defied the authorities and rescued potential victims during the Holocaust
Experiment 7 - Telephonic instructions - P2, A01
The experimenter gave orders over the telephone
Findings - 9 out of 40 (22.5%) were fully obedient. some said over the phone they were raising the shock level when they weren’t, some repeatedly gave the lowest shock. defiant participants became obedient again when the experimenter returned
Conclusion - physical presence of the authority figure is an important situational factor that increases obedience
Strength of Experiment 7 - Telephonic instructions - P2, A03
One strength of Milgram’s experiment 7 is that subsequent research has replicated his findings
For example, Sedikides and Jackson conducted a field study in 1990 at a zoo and showed that when the authority figure was no longer present, obedience rate dopped significantly
Once people had moved to a new area of the birdhouse it was like the request had never been made - they just leaned on the rail just as much as they did in the baseline condition when no request was made at all
Therefore, this shows that Milgram’s findings of physical proximity generalise well to other more naturalistic situations, which demonstrates high external validity
Experiment 13 - ordinary man - P3, A01
Milgram aimed to test the legitimacy of the authority figure
2 confederates, the learner and ‘a confederate recorder’ (the ordinary man) to record times from a clock
during the learning task, the experimenter receives a fake phone call.
he asks the participant teacher and the confederate recorder to get the learner to learn all the word pairs, then leaves
the recorder enthusiastically insists on giving increasing shocks after every mistake
findings - 80% of participants refused to continue when the ‘ordinary man’ (recorder) gave orders to shock the learner
conclusion - orders must come from a legitimate source to be effective, an important situational factors
Weakness of Experiment 13 - ordinary man - P3, A03
One weakness of experiment 13 is that there is a possible lack of internal validity
the aim of variation 13 was to see what happens when orders come from someone with no legitimate authority, but this was almost impossible to achieve
the ‘ordinary man’ derive some authority from the experimenter who initially described the study and the idea of administering shocks
therefore, this suggests obedience may be even lower in situations where the person giving orders is completely unrelated to any authority figure or institutional context
