Obedience - Milgram

Question 1

define obedience?

Answer 1

When one complies with the commands given by a perceived or real figure of authority.

Question 2

What was the aim of Milgram’s study?

Answer 2

To see if ordinary people would obey destructive authority.

Question 3

What was the procedure of Milligram’s study?

Answer 3

• volunteers were recruited for a lab experiment investigating ‘learning’
• 40 males ages 20 - 50. job range from unskilled to professional.
• ppts paid for their participation.
• ppts introduced to confederate, drew straws to see who would be the learner, who would be the teacher. Was fixed so the confederate was always the learner.
• screen separating them could hear each other but not see.
• learner had to remember a list of word pairs
• The teacher presented the learner with a word and the learner had to recall its pair.
• Every wrong answer, teacher shocked the learner with electric shock.
• every wrong answer the intensity increased
• if the teacher refused to shock them the experimenter read a prod.

Question 4

What were the findings of Milgram’s study?

Answer 4

All ppts proceeded to 300 volts

65% of ppts proceeded to the highest level of 450 volts.

Question 5

What was the conclusion of Milgram’s study?

Answer 5

Ordinary people are likely to follow figures or authority, even to the extent of killing an innocent person and abandoning their own moral beliefs.

Question 6

Evaluation points on Milgram’s study -

Answer 6

• low internal validity. (some ppts didn’t believe it was real)
• Some psychologists argue that the results cannot be generalised to real world environments, as the study took place in a lab.
• Poor ethical conduct
• failed to abide by the rules surrounding the right to withdraw.