Milgrim

Question 1

What was the aim?

Answer 1

• ## to investigate how far ordinary people would go in obeying orders of an authority figure even if it involved inflicting harm on another person

Question 2

Methodology

Answer 2

-conducted in a lab environment were variables were controlled
- it’s NOT an experiment because there’s no IV or DV (would’ve been if Milgrim compared Americans to Germans, nationality would’ve acted as the IV)
- therefore a controlled observation in a lab setting
- selected 40 male participants between 20 and 50 years and sample of men had a range of different jobs and education (selected through self selecting)
- pts were paid $4.50

Question 3

Describe the procedure

Answer 3

The study took place in a lab at Yale university and consisted of 40 male volunteers (selected through a self-selecting sampling method); participants also self selected them selves through an advert posted on a newspaper. They were greeted by the ‘experimenter’ (a confederate) and met the other ‘participant’ (another confederate) who was assigned the role of the learner. The 40 participants were always assigned the role of the teacher as the selection done by a draw of slips were always rigged.
Milgrims procedure can be split up into 4 sections: the shock machine, the learning task, feedback from the experimenter and dehoax. For the shock machine, the teacher was given a ‘sample’ shock to demonstrate that the machine was real. In regards to the learning task, once the study began, the teacher was told to administer the shock when the learner gave a wrong answer and to increase the level of volts each time. It is also notable that the learner was to not make any comments until the shock level reached 300 volts. For feedback from the experimenter, the experimenter was trained to give four standard prods if the teacher hesitated about delivering the shock e.g. “please continue”, “the experiment requires that you continue”, “it is absolutely essential that you continue” “you must go on”. For the dehoax, after the study the teacher was thoroughly debriefed and the experimenter reunited the teacher and learner. They were then interviewed about their ex

Question 4

Describe the Findings

Answer 4

One finding was based off of quantitative data. Milgrim surveyed yale students who estimated that 0-3% of the participants would be fully obedient. The finding was underestimated as 65% of the participants were obedient to the study as they went up to the maximum 450 volts. Whereas 12% refused to continue around 300 volts in. It’s also notable that at each increase of the voltage, less pts dropped out.
Another finding was based off of qualitative data. Many participants showed nervousness and a large amount showed tension. For example, participants dug their fingernails into their flesh or profusely sweated. At least 14 participants nervously laughed or smiled which suggested that they were acting against their own values. In the post interview (the dehoax) these participants explained that their laughter had not meant that they enjoyed shocking the learner. Three participants had ‘full blown’ seizures and one had such a violent convulsion that the session had to be stopped.