Obedience in a Virtual Setting Flashcards
Who was the study by?
Slater at al. (2006)
Why was the study called ‘A virtual reprise of the Stanley Milgram obedience experiments’?
Because it was a deliberate replication of Milgram’s study, using a different procedure.
What was the aim of the study?
To replicate Milgram’s work in an ethical way.
What was the main purpose of the study?
To find out if experiments in a virtual environment could be useful in psychological studies where direct experiments are not possible.
The setting was an…
… immersive virtual environment.
The hypothesis was that there would be…
… more stress if the virtual person could be seen and heard than if communication was via text.
What were the 2 conditions?
A visible condition (screen) & a hidden condition (text).
In the visible condition, the learner…
… protested and showed discomfort. They wanted to stop and were quiet at the end.
In the hidden condition, the learner…
… didn’t protest.
How many participants were there?
34
How many participants were in the visible condition?
23
How many participants were in the hidden condition?
11
How many participants gave all shocks in the hidden condition?
All of them.
In the visible condition, how many participants gave all the shocks (20)?
17
In the visible condition, how many wanted to stop?
12 out of the 23
In the hidden condition, how many thought of stopping?
1 out of the 11
They wanted to stop because…
… they felt bad about what was going on.
In the visible condition, the participant spoke to the learner to…
… emphasise the correct answer & help them out.
Measure of skin conductance is a…
… physiological measure.
What were the results of the skin conductance measure?
Arousal in both conditions
In which condition was arousal higher?
visible
Arousal was higher in the visible condition due to…
… visible presence.
What was the main conclusion of the experiment?
Participants reacted to virtual human as if they were real.
Giving shocks to a virtual human was stressful.
Researchers concluded that using an immersive virtual environment was…
… a suitable way of replacing lab experiments, to improve ethics.
Strengths of Slater et al.?
- no deception
- procedure modelled on that of Milgram’s study
Lack of deception was because…
… the participants knew no shocks were given, and no learner was harmed.
Why is it a strength for the procedure to be modelled on that of Milgram’s study
Comparisons (including similarities) could be made.
Despite ethical improvements, participants were still…
… stressed and under pressure.
What were factors causing participants stress and pressure?
- study presented seriously
- many measures
- stress of learner made participant distressed
Why was obedience not exactly obedience as such?
Participants knew they weren’t giving shocks, so no blind obedience as in Milgram’s study.
