Obedience Flashcards
Who investigated Obedience?
Milgram (1963)
What was the proceduce in Milgrams study?
Recruitment and allocation
Recruited 40 American male participants supposedly for a study of memory
-A confederate was always the Learner while the true participant was the teacher
- An experimenter the other confederate wore a lab coat
What was the proceduce in Milgrams study?
Shock
Teacher gave the learner a increasingly severe electric shock each time they had answered a question incorrectly : Shocks increased to 450v
- shocks were fake but machine was labelled to look increasingly severe
- if the teacher (PARTICIPANT) asked to stop, they would be prompted to continue, e.g Please continue
What were the key findings in Milgrams study?
12.5% (5 participants) stopped at 300v
65% continued to the highest level
Participants showed signs of extreme tension
What were the other findings?
Prediction
Milgram asked 14 psychology students to predict how they thought the naive participants would respond.
Estimated no more than 3% would continue to 450v.
- so the baseline study findings were unexpected
What are the conclusions of this study?
We obey legitimate authority even if that means that our behaviour causes harm to someone else
- certain situational factors encourage obedience
What is one strength of Milgrams study?
Replications have supported Milgrams reseach findings
-French TV show contestants were paid to give shocks to others where ordered by the presenter
-80% gave the maximum shock of 460v to a unconcious man, their behaviour was similar to the participants in Milgrams study, signs of anxiety
- supporting the original findings of Milgram
What is one limitation of Milgrams study?
Milgrams study lacked internal validity
-Hollan 1968 argued the participants guessed the shocks were fake but carried on acting
- this is supported by Perrys research which found only half believed the shocks were real
-suggesting the participants may have been responding to demand characteristics
