Obedience: Milgram

Question 1

what are some strengths of Milgram’s study

Answer 1

• high historical validity
• support from real life events

Question 2

why does Milgram’s study have a high historical validity

Answer 2

• Blass analysed different obedience studies conducted over 20 years and found no difference in obedience between the earlier and later studies
• a more recent study by Burger in 2009 found levels of obedience almost identical to Milgram’s showing his findings still apply today

Question 3

what did Blass find

Answer 3

he found obedience levels were the same between earlier studies and later studies over a period of 20 years

Question 4

what did Burger find

Answer 4

he conducted a study in 2009 and found levels of obedience almost identical to Milgram’s

Question 5

how are Milgram’s findings supported by real life events

Answer 5

• men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 were given orders to carry out a mass killing of jews but were also given the option to carry out a different task if they didn’t feel up to it
• most men carried out his orders without protesting

Question 6

what is a counterpoint for Reserve Police Battalion 101

Answer 6

• Mandel argued that using obedience as an explanation for carrying out such atrocities is only an alibi to hide the real reasons behind such behaviours, like antisemitism

Question 7

what are some limitations of Milgram’s research

Answer 7

• low internal validity
• ethical issues
• low external validity

Question 8

why does Milgram’s study have a low internal validity

Answer 8

• Orne and Holland argued that participants guessed the electric shocks were fake so they displayed demand characteristics and played along
• the was supported by Perry which analysed recording form Milgram’s study and discovered only half of the participants believed the shocks to be real
• results may be invalid and inaccurate

Question 9

how did Milgram’s study break ethical guidelines

Answer 9

• participants were not protected form psychological harm as many showed signs of distress during the experiment and were asked to continue and some participants felt guilty for inflicting pain on another human being
• participants were also deceived as they were not told the nature of the experiment or what they were going to be doing in it so they couldn’t have provided informed consent

Question 10

why does Milgram’s study have low external validity

Answer 10

• study and task did not reflect everyday life examples of obedience
• people obey way less harmful situation and the use of electric shocks would not occur in real life so findings cannot be generalised to settings beyond the study