obedience and milgram 1963

Question 1

what is social influence?

Answer 1

when an individual’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are affected by others either through conformity, obedience or social pressure

Question 2

what is obedience?

Answer 2

a form of social influence where an individual follows a direct order or command from an authority figure

Question 3

give an example of obedience

Answer 3

a soldier following orders from an officer

Question 4

outline a real life example which shows how blindly following orders can be a dangerous thing

Answer 4

my lai massacre during the vietnam war

american soldiers followed orders from their commanding officer to kill hundreds of unarmed civilians in the village of my lai, even though there was no threat

this shows how obeying orders without questioning them can lead to harmful and unethical actions

Question 5

what inspired milgram to study obedience?

Answer 5

milgram was influenced by the nazi war crimes during ww2, where soldiers claimed they were ‘just following orders’ when committing atrocities

wanted to find out if ordinary people would obey authority figures to perform harmful actions

Question 6

what real life events formed the background of milgrams research?

Answer 6

the holocaust

nazis followed orders to carry out mass killings

highlighted the potential dangers of blinded obedience to authority

Question 7

what was the aim of milgrams 1963 study?

Answer 7

to investigate how far ordinary people would go in obeying authority figures, even if it meant harming another person

Question 8

how were participants recruited for milgrams study?

Answer 8

participants were recruited through a newspaper advertisement

Question 9

what were the characteristics of milgrams sample?

Answer 9

the sample consisted of male volunteers aged 20-50 from various backgrounds and occupations

Question 10

how many participants were in milgrams study?

Answer 10

40 male participants

Question 11

what sampling method did milgram use?

Answer 11

self-selected sample (volunteer sampling) where participants responded to an advertisement

Question 12

how were participants compensated for taking part in milgrams study?

Answer 12

participants were paid $4.50 for attending the experiment, regardless of whether they continued to the end

Question 13

where did milgrams study take place?

Answer 13

the study was conducted at yale university in a controlled laboratory setting

Question 14

what were the participants told at the beginning of the study?

Answer 14

that they could drop out at any point and still keep the money

Question 15

what does a confederate mean?

Answer 15

a person who is secretly part of the experiment but pretends to be a participant

working with the researcher and acts in a predetermined way to manipulate or control the situation

participants are unaware the confederate is not a genuine experiment

Question 16

who acted as the authority figure in milgrams study?

Answer 16

mr williams

the expemimenter was a likeable man wearing a grey lab coat

Question 17

what roles were assigned to the participants and the confederate?

Answer 17

the particpant was always assigned the role of teacher and the confederate (mr wallace) was the learner

Question 18

how were the roles of milgrams experiment decided?

Answer 18

lots were drawn but this was fixed as both pieced of paper has teacher written on them, the confederate pretended his said learner

Question 19

what task were the participants in milgrams study asked to perform?

Answer 19

participants were asked to administer electric shocks to the ‘learner’ each time they gave an incorrect answer on a word recall task

Question 20

what was the range of electric shocks in milgrams study?

Answer 20

15 volts (slight shock) - 450 volts (dangerous severe shock) and XXX

Question 21

how much did the voltage increase by for each question in milgrams study?

Answer 21

15 volts at a time but the shocks were fake

Question 22

what happened to the teacher at the start of the experiment to make them believe the machine was real in milgrams study

Answer 22

they were give one real electric shock of 45 volts

Question 23

explain the procedure of the pair-associate task in milgrams study

Answer 23

• the experimenter explained the pair associate task to the particpant and told him to read a list of words mr wallace must remember
• the teacher communicated through an intercom but he couldn’t hear the learner
• the particpant readout the first word of the pair and gave 4 possible options
• mr wallace presses one of the 4 switches to indicate his answer
• mr wallace gives three wrong answers to every one correct answer

Question 24

what responses did the learner give during the procedure of milgrams study?

Answer 24

• at 150 volts, the leaner began protesting and asking to stop
• at 300 volts, the learner banged on the wall and stopped responding
• after 315 volts, there was no further response

Question 25

what were the 4 verbal prompts given in milgrams study if the particpant hesitated to continue?

Answer 25

• ‘please continue’
• ‘the experiment requires that you continue’
• ‘it is absolutely essential that you continue’
• ‘you have no other choice, you must go on’

Question 26

why was a standerdized procedure essential in milgrams study?

Answer 26

• ensure all particpants had the same experience making the study more reliable as it could be replicated
• control extraneous variables, so differences in obedience could be attributed to the authority figure
• maintain consistency in prompts to ensure authority figures influence was the same for every particpant

Question 27

what happened at the end of milgrams procedure?

Answer 27

participants were fully debriefed, reassured that the shocks were not real and that the learner was unharmed

Question 28

what percentage of participants obeyed fully to 450 volts in milgrams study?

Answer 28

65% of participants admintstered the maximum 450 volt shock

Question 29

what did psychiatrists predict before the milgram study?

Answer 29

that only 1-2% of participants would administer the full 450 full volts

Question 30

milgrams study - what did the participants predict they would do if they were in the teachers role?

Answer 30

most participants predicted they would stop obeying early and refuse to give high voltage shocks

Question 31

what was the lowest voltage all participants administered in milgrams study?

Answer 31

all participants administered atleast 300 volts

Question 32

milgrams study - what signs of distress did participants show during the experiment?

Answer 32

• sweating
• trembling
• nervous laughter

stuttering

-biting their lips

Question 33

what qualitative data did milgram collect from the study?

Answer 33

milgram noted participants verbal protests and their physical signs of distress

Question 34

milgrams study - at what point did some participants refuse to continue?

Answer 34

35% of participants stopped obeying between 300 and 375 volts