Milgrim-obedience To Authority

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

• when person feels pressure to change behaviour

- change to comply with order from authoritative figure

Question 2

What were the aims of this study?

Answer 2

• wanted to answer the question as to why the Germans followed hitlers orders
• were Germans different?

Question 3

Who was the key figure in this research?

Answer 3

-milgrim

Question 4

What was the procedure?

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

What was the range of voltage used in this study?

Answer 5

-15V to 450V (marked XXX)

Question 6

What were the 4 prompts? (Only learn 1 and 4)

Answer 6

1. Please continue
2. experiment requires you continue
3. essential you continue
4. You have no choice, you must go on

Question 7

What were the findings?

Answer 7

• no pp stopped bellow 300 volts (uk maximum is 250)
• 65%carried on to 450V
• pp’s seemed distressed

Question 8

What signs showed pp’s were distressed?

Answer 8

• biting nails

- 3 has uncontrollable seizures

Question 9

What were the conclusions from these findings?

Answer 9

• Americans acted the same as Nazis
• shows people act different to how they believe in pressure situations
• 65% would have killed someone

Question 10

Evaluate how the study had low internal validity?

Answer 10

WEAKNESS

• guessed shocks were real=demand characteristics
• supported by perry who listened to tapes and many pp’s expressed their doubts

Question 11

Evaluate what the test on puppies show?

Answer 11

STRENGTH

• 1972 test on puppies
• 55% males and 100% women delivered fatal shocks to puppies (real shocks)
• shows milgrims study had genuine results

Question 12

evaluate why there is good external validity

Answer 12

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

Question 13

why does the nurses study NOT support milgrim’s study?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

what are the 3 situational variables?

Answer 14

• proximity
• location
• uniform

Question 15

explain proximity as a situational variable

Answer 15

• in Milgrim’s original study when they were in adjared rooms= 65% conformity
• forced hand on shock plate=30%
• experimenter left room= 20.5%

Question 16

explain location as a situational variable

Answer 16

• conducted in a run down building unlike Yale university
• less authority
• obedience fell to 45.5%

Question 17

explain uniform as a situational variable

Answer 17

• 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%

Question 18

what are the 3 evaluation points for situational variables?

Answer 18

• research support
• lack of internal validity
• cross-cultural replications

Question 19

evaluate research support for uniform as a situational variables?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

evaluate lack of internal validity for situational variables

Answer 20

WEAKNESS

• pp’s realised procedure was fake due to extra manipulation
• unclear whether results were due to demand characteristics or genuine.

Question 21

evaluate cross-cultural replications for situational variables

Answer 21

• 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