obedience: Milgram's experiment Flashcards
aim of Milgram’s study
to investigate the extent to which people obey the orders of an authority figure.
procedure
- 40 American male participants aged 20-50 were told they were taking part in an study of the effects of punishment on memory and learning.
- The confederate ‘experimenter’ (wearing a lab coat to create an impression of authority) told the participant that he had been randomly assigned the role of ‘teacher’ and that another participant (who was another confederate) had been randomly assigned the role of ‘learner’.
- The experimenter told the participant the test would involve giving increasingly powerful electric shocks to the learner from a machine in the room next door
- The participant watched the learner be strapped into into a chair and have electrodes attached to his body. The participant was also given a 45 volt shock himself so that he believed everything was real.
- The participant teacher was instructed to teach the learner a list of word pairs. For each wrong answer from the learner, the teacher had to give him an electric shock. These electric shocks increased in power with each wrong answer – starting at 15 volts and increasing by 15 volts each time all the way up to 450 volts.
- Once electric shocks reached 150 volts, the learner began to protest.
- If the participant asked to stop the experiment, the experimenter would reply with one of four successive verbal prods
results of Milgram’s study
*26 out of 40 participants (65%) administered shocks all the way up to the maximum of 450 volts.
*40 out of 40 participants (100%) administered shocks up to 300 volts.
*Most participants displayed physical symptoms of discomfort at what they were doing such as sweating, twitching, and nervously laughing. 3 participants suffered seizures from the stress of what they were doing.
what was this study partly motivated by?
a desire to understand why Nazi soldiers in World War 2 acted how they did. For example, shortly before Milgram’s study, Adolf Eichmann – a senior Nazi officer responsible for deporting Jews to ghettos and concentration camps – defended his actions at trial by repeatedly saying “I was only following orders”.
what did Milgram want to know about German people?
if the German people had a uniquely obedient disposition that explained their behaviour. The study suggests not: American people will also obey the demands of an authority figure even if it means going against their moral compass.
evaluation point: reliable
Milgram’s results have been replicated several times over the decades, which suggests the results are reliable.
evaluation point: Practical applications
Milgram’s experiments demonstrate the extent to which humans obey authority – even if doing so may be dangerous. This is a valuable psychological insight that could have beneficial applications in society. For example, there are several examples of (typically junior) doctors and nurses knowingly following orders that have injured or killed patients. Training junior doctors and nurses of the dangers of obedience (as demonstrated by Milgram’s experiments) could avoid this.
evaluation point: Unethical
the extreme stress placed upon the participants, as evidenced by the 3 who suffered seizures. However, the participants were debriefed after the study and it can be argued that the findings of the experiments are so valuable that the benefits of conducting them outweigh the distress caused to participants.
evaluation point: Methodological concerns
some psychologists have argued that many participants in Milgram’s study didn’t actually believe the shocks were real. If so, then Milgram’s findings would likely not be valid when applied to real life. However, in post-study interviews, 75% of participants said they believed the shocks were real. And further, the physiological symptoms of stress observed in many of the participants suggest they really did believe they were inflicting harm.
