Milgrim-obedience To Authority Flashcards
What is obedience?
- when person feels pressure to change behaviour
- change to comply with order from authoritative figure
What were the aims of this study?
- wanted to answer the question as to why the Germans followed hitlers orders
- were Germans different?
Who was the key figure in this research?
-milgrim
What was the procedure?
- 40 males recruited through flyers
- biased coin was flipped meaning confederate would always be learner
- pp sees learner strapped in chair
- pp given a 45V shock
- learner got a shock for every wrong answer and this increased in voltage
What was the range of voltage used in this study?
-15V to 450V (marked XXX)
What were the 4 prompts? (Only learn 1 and 4)
- Please continue
- experiment requires you continue
- essential you continue
- You have no choice, you must go on
What were the findings?
- no pp stopped bellow 300 volts (uk maximum is 250)
- 65%carried on to 450V
- pp’s seemed distressed
What signs showed pp’s were distressed?
- biting nails
- 3 has uncontrollable seizures
What were the conclusions from these findings?
- Americans acted the same as Nazis
- shows people act different to how they believe in pressure situations
- 65% would have killed someone
Evaluate how the study had low internal validity?
WEAKNESS
- guessed shocks were real=demand characteristics
- supported by perry who listened to tapes and many pp’s expressed their doubts
Evaluate what the test on puppies show?
STRENGTH
- 1972 test on puppies
- 55% males and 100% women delivered fatal shocks to puppies (real shocks)
- shows milgrims study had genuine results
evaluate why there is good external validity
STRENGTH
- lab environment reflects wider authority relationships in real life
- supported by (HOFFLING) who studied nurses obedience giving them unjustified demands
- 21/22 nurses obeyed = Milgrim correct
why does the nurses study NOT support milgrim’s study?
WEAKNESS
- nurses given unfamiliar drug
- requested higher dosage
- given orders over phone
- weren’t allowed to confer with each other
- these factors don’t represent real life
what are the 3 situational variables?
- proximity
- location
- uniform
explain proximity as a situational variable
- in Milgrim’s original study when they were in adjared rooms= 65% conformity
- forced hand on shock plate=30%
- experimenter left room= 20.5%
explain location as a situational variable
- conducted in a run down building unlike Yale university
- less authority
- obedience fell to 45.5%
explain uniform as a situational variable
- original experimenter wore a grey lab coat
- experimenter called away in this variation, role was taken over by a member of the public
- obedience fell to 20%
what are the 3 evaluation points for situational variables?
- research support
- lack of internal validity
- cross-cultural replications
evaluate research support for uniform as a situational variables?
STRENGTH
- field experiment in new york
- confederates dressed in 3 outfits: suit and tie / milk man/security guard
- asked passers by to do simple tasks eg. pick litter
- people were twice as likely to obey security guard than suit and tie
evaluate lack of internal validity for situational variables
WEAKNESS
- pp’s realised procedure was fake due to extra manipulation
- unclear whether results were due to demand characteristics or genuine.
evaluate cross-cultural replications for situational variables
- replication in Spain showed 90% obedience
- shows his findings are not limited to american males
- external validity =generalised
- HOWEVER…-variations have only taken place in developed countries (spain)
- cannot be generalised to everyone
