OBEDIENCE: MILGRAM’S RESEARCH

Question 1

Define obedience

Answer 1

Form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order.

Question 2

who usually makes others obedient

Answer 2

Person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish when obedience behaviour is not for coming

Question 3

Why did milgram conduct this study? (2)

Answer 3

Why the German pop had followed orders of Hitler to murder ppl of other social groups during the Holocaust during WW2

Wanted to know if Germans were different→ more obedient

Question 4

What was the procedure of milgrams study (7)

Answer 4

1. 40 American males recruited via AD-‘memory test”
2. Start of experiment was introduced to the confederate (actor)→ ‘random selection’ was done to chose teacher and learner→ participant was always selected as teacher
3. Another confederate dressed in lab coat was said to be the experimenter/professor
4. Learner (Mr Wallace) strapped in chair in separate room→ with electrodes
5. Teacher had to shock learner if they got question wrong(shock was fake but teacher had no clue)→ started at 15 and had to increase until 450 volts
6. When teacher got to 300 volts learner made noises in pain→ 315 they acted dead/unconscious
7. Teacher was given series of verbal probs like “the experiment requires you to continue” if teacher tried to refuse

Question 5

What were the key findings in milgrams experiment (5)

Answer 5

• 12.5% stopped at 300
  
  • 65% continued to 450
  • Observed signs of extreme tensions→ 3 had uncontrollable seizures
  • Milgram asked his psych students to predict resulted: 3% last till 450 volts
  • Questionnaire asked after: 84% glad to participate

Question 6

Evaluate -ves of milgrams experiment (5+ research study)

Answer 6

• Lack mundane realism: artifice task and so does not reflect day to day activities→ low ecological validity
  
  • Huge unethical concerns: harmed volunteers→ 3 had uncontrollable seizures +deceived his participants→ led them to believe that allocation of roles was random + allowed them to believe electric shocks were real⇒ betrayal of trust damages reputation of psychologists and their research⇒ didn’t follow many guidelines of BPS code of ethics
  • Androcentric: only done on male participants and so lack of generalisation
  • Ethonocentric: ethnics bias→ only judged obedience on US participants→ diff cultures may have diff obedience levels towards authority
  Eg meenus et al repeated the experiment on many countries and found in Spain participants were more obedient (90%)
  • Poor temporal validity: US was more obedient in the 60s eg bc of Cold War→ historical bias

Question 7

Evaluate +ves of milgrams study (4 + 2 studies)`

Answer 7

• Gave inspiration to many other studies⇒ benefit greater scientific knowledge
  
  • Had to deceive participants: prevent demand characteristics→ good internal validity as ppt did not know shock was real⇒ Holland et al found in post interview 70 % believed shock was real + self selective sample
  • Good internal validity: King et al conducted similar study ⇒ ppl ordered to give real shock to puppy→ 54% male & 100% female did it⇒ can generalise milgrams study bc 100% females obedient
  • Does not lack ecological validity: even though conducted in controlled lab study→ bc of the uniforms if does reflect real relation between ppt and an authority figure (all police etc are in uniforms)

Question 8

How did Hofling et al replicate this study and what did they find (5)

Answer 8

• See if nurses would obey order from unknown doctor→ even if encouraged harm
  
  • In control study: 21/22 nurses said they would no obey to this order
  • Procedure: nurses individually phoned from ‘dr Smith’ told to give more then the required amount of unknown drug to patient ‘mr Jones”→ would be breaking law if they did it as dr needs to sign consent form
  • Found: 21/22 ppt obeyed
  • Conclude: authority power stronger then basic hospital rules

Question 9

How did Jacobsen et al counter argue hoflings study

Answer 9

Replicated hoflings study in better conditions⇒ told known drug to nurses by known doctor

Found: 2/18 ppt were obedient

Question 10

What can be concluded from milgrams study (3)

Answer 10

• Obedience is a great control tool⇒ We obey legitimate authority even though it can cause harm
  
  • Proves that this is not about where you’re from→ ppt we’re Americans not German
  • ppt hold authority bias within their outlook on society

Question 11

• `explain what is authority bias (3)

Answer 11

• is a[cognitive bias]
  that makes people predisposed to believe, support, and obey those that they perceive as authority figures.
  
  • associated with people’s tendency to obey the orders of someone that they perceive as an authority figure, even when they believe that there’s something wrong with those orders, and even when there wouldn’t be a penalty for defying them.