obedience and milgram 1963 Flashcards
what is social influence?
when an individual’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are affected by others either through conformity, obedience or social pressure
what is obedience?
a form of social influence where an individual follows a direct order or command from an authority figure
give an example of obedience
a soldier following orders from an officer
outline a real life example which shows how blindly following orders can be a dangerous thing
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
what inspired milgram to study obedience?
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
what real life events formed the background of milgrams research?
the holocaust
nazis followed orders to carry out mass killings
highlighted the potential dangers of blinded obedience to authority
what was the aim of milgrams 1963 study?
to investigate how far ordinary people would go in obeying authority figures, even if it meant harming another person
how were participants recruited for milgrams study?
participants were recruited through a newspaper advertisement
what were the characteristics of milgrams sample?
the sample consisted of male volunteers aged 20-50 from various backgrounds and occupations
how many participants were in milgrams study?
40 male participants
what sampling method did milgram use?
self-selected sample (volunteer sampling) where participants responded to an advertisement
how were participants compensated for taking part in milgrams study?
participants were paid $4.50 for attending the experiment, regardless of whether they continued to the end
where did milgrams study take place?
the study was conducted at yale university in a controlled laboratory setting
what were the participants told at the beginning of the study?
that they could drop out at any point and still keep the money
what does a confederate mean?
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
who acted as the authority figure in milgrams study?
mr williams
the expemimenter was a likeable man wearing a grey lab coat
what roles were assigned to the participants and the confederate?
the particpant was always assigned the role of teacher and the confederate (mr wallace) was the learner
how were the roles of milgrams experiment decided?
lots were drawn but this was fixed as both pieced of paper has teacher written on them, the confederate pretended his said learner
what task were the participants in milgrams study asked to perform?
participants were asked to administer electric shocks to the ‘learner’ each time they gave an incorrect answer on a word recall task
what was the range of electric shocks in milgrams study?
15 volts (slight shock) - 450 volts (dangerous severe shock) and XXX
how much did the voltage increase by for each question in milgrams study?
15 volts at a time but the shocks were fake
what happened to the teacher at the start of the experiment to make them believe the machine was real in milgrams study
they were give one real electric shock of 45 volts
explain the procedure of the pair-associate task in milgrams study
- 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
what responses did the learner give during the procedure of milgrams study?
- 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
what were the 4 verbal prompts given in milgrams study if the particpant hesitated to continue?
- ‘please continue’
- ‘the experiment requires that you continue’
- ‘it is absolutely essential that you continue’
- ‘you have no other choice, you must go on’
why was a standerdized procedure essential in milgrams study?
- 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
what happened at the end of milgrams procedure?
participants were fully debriefed, reassured that the shocks were not real and that the learner was unharmed
what percentage of participants obeyed fully to 450 volts in milgrams study?
65% of participants admintstered the maximum 450 volt shock
what did psychiatrists predict before the milgram study?
that only 1-2% of participants would administer the full 450 full volts
milgrams study - what did the participants predict they would do if they were in the teachers role?
most participants predicted they would stop obeying early and refuse to give high voltage shocks
what was the lowest voltage all participants administered in milgrams study?
all participants administered atleast 300 volts
milgrams study - what signs of distress did participants show during the experiment?
- sweating
- trembling
- nervous laughter
stuttering
-biting their lips
what qualitative data did milgram collect from the study?
milgram noted participants verbal protests and their physical signs of distress
milgrams study - at what point did some participants refuse to continue?
35% of participants stopped obeying between 300 and 375 volts
