Obedience - Milgram Flashcards
What is the definition of obedience?
A compliance to an order request from an authority figure.
When was Milgram’s experiment?
1965
What was the aim of Milgram’s experiment?
The pt’s thought that the study was about the effects of punishment on memory. The real aim was to see if people would obey the orders of an authority figure, even when there were fatal consequences.
What was the procedure of Milgram’s experiment?
40 males between 20 - 50 were recruited from volunteer sampling and told to go to Yale university. They met a stern individual who played the role of the experimenter, and Mr Wallace, the learner. Pt and Wallace were ‘randomly’ assigned the role of teacher and learner. Pt and experimenter attached Mr Wallace to equipment and Pt sampled 45v shock to increase authenticity. In adjoining room, pt asked Mr Wallace a question and had to shock him with increasingly stronger shocks. 15v - 450v. At 150v he would demand to be released, 300v refused to answer more questions. 315v screamed. 330v heard no more.
What were the four prods in Milgram’s experiment?
Prod 1 - Please continue
Prod 2 - The experiment requires you to continue
Prod 3 - It is absolutely essential you continue
Prod 4 - You have no other choice but to continue
What were the results of Milgram’s experiment?
Qualitative data - Pt’s looked uncomfortable and under some strain because they were sweaty, had seizures. they showed nervous laughter and they wanted to leave. They also hesitated pressing the switches.
Quantitative data - 100% gave 300v
65% gave the maximum 450v
What was the conclusion of Milgram’s experiment?
Milgram concluded that participants would obey the orders of an authority figure as the participants gave electric shocks to a learner when told to do so by an authority figure.
What was the generalisability of Milgram’s experiment?
Not generalisable to the target population - androcentric.
What was the reliability of Milgram’s experiment?
High reliability - clear standardised procedures so it can be replicated.
What were the applications of Milgram’s study?
People obey orders from authority - family school workplace. People obeying orders from officers of the law.
What is the validity of Milgram’s study?
Low ecological validity - environment and task were both artificial.
Orne and Holland said that pt’s didn’t really believe they were shocking people - demand characteristics.
However Milgram interviewed the pt’s who said they thought the situation was real - high levels of mundane realism.
Did Milgram’s study break ethical guidelines?
Deceived as to the true aim, so no informed consent.
Pt’s were fully debriefed and were not physically harmed.
Loss of uniform variation - Milgram.
The experimenter appeared to be an ordinary member of society - obedience dropped to 20%. Uniforms encourage obedience as they are recognised symbols of authority. If someone wears a uniform we expect that they are entitled to obedience.
What was Bickman’s research?
Three confederates were in different outfits - jacket and tie, milkman and security guard - and they stood in the street and asked people to perform random tasks. 2 times more people obeyed security guard than jacket and tie.
Location variation - Milgram.
Experiment moved from prestigious Yale university to a rundown office block in nearby Bridgeport - obedience dropped to 47.5%. Yale gave experiment legitimacy because it was respected, but still fairly high as participants perceived scientific nature of the experiment.
