Obedience: milgram & variations

Question 1

define obedience

Answer 1

Instructions given from someone with a higher status to someone of lower status who complies with the request or instruction

Question 2

Define Authority figure/Legitimate Authority

Answer 2

A Person who is perceived to be in charge, usually high in status with the right to give instructions or orders in a given situation.

Question 3

Define Sample

Answer 3

Group of people , sometimes called ‘subjects’ whose behaviour is being measured in the study

Question 4

define sampling method

Answer 4

How the sample have been recruited for the study

Question 5

define volunteer sampling

Answer 5

Sample of people who volunteered to participate, usually in response to recruitment via advertisements

Question 6

What theory was Milgram trying to prove in regards to factors of obedience?

Answer 6

to test the ‘Germans are different’ hypothesis and to attempt to explain the horrors carried out by Nazis

Question 7

Participants were told that the shocks could be

Answer 7

painful but couldn’t cause any permanent tissue damage

Question 8

Describe Milgram’s experiment

Answer 8

1963: He advertised in a newspaper for participants in a memory study and introduced them to Mr Wallace (a confederate) and they drew lots to see who would be the learner or the teacher( this was rigged so Mr Wallace was ALWAYS the learner). Teacher watched as learner was strapped into an electrode ( for shocks that increased by 15 volts with every incorrect answer) and the teacher was given a 45V shock for authenticity. Teacher told to shock learner with every wrong answer ~ if teacher refused, they were prompted but if refused constantly the experiment was stopped.

Question 9

The aim of the experiment was

Answer 9

to investigate what level of obedience would be shown when participants were told by an authority figure to administer electric shocks to another person

Question 10

How many participants were there?

Answer 10

40 Males aged 20-50 from the New Haven area

Question 11

Participants believed the study was to

Answer 11

see if punishment impacted learning

Question 12

Milgram’s findings?

Answer 12

All participants continued to 300V (Learner said to be unconscious) and 65% continued to the maximum voltage.

Question 13

what did Milgrams findings suggest?

Answer 13

The high obedience in the sample of 40 white American men suggests blind obedience isn’t restricted to a category

Question 14

why is obedience necessary

Answer 14

Useful characteristic in society as it’s an evolutionary trait as society functions more effectively with rules, than with anarchy.

Question 15

What were the strengths of Milgram’s study? (2)

Answer 15

Non Bias (cause-and-effect easily recognised)
Controlled Procedures (experiments exactly the same - replicable and reproducible)

Question 16

What were the four main weaknesses of Milgram’s study?

Answer 16

• Unethical behaviour (anxiety produced, unprepared for the stage it got to & repetition)
• Right to withdraw given only in theory as pressured to stay
• Only partial consent obtained (under false circumstances - memory not obedience
• Basic study lacked Validity (reality vs. laboratory).

Question 17

what was experiment 7

Answer 17

It was a variation on Milgram’s original study using distance as the independent variable.

Question 18

Why did Milgram think Experiment 7 was necessary?

Answer 18

Milgram thought that as the participant had responded to the newspaper advertisement, they had already built a relationship with the experimenter and so were more likely to obey

Question 19

What did Experiment 7 do?

Answer 19

It varied the distance between the experimenter and the participant to see whether this would affect obedience levels.

Question 20

describe the method used in Experiment 7

Answer 20

Experimenter gave instructions in person at the start but then left and conveyed further instructions through the telephone

Question 21

what were findings of experiment 7

Answer 21

9/40 obeyed to the maximum voltage

Some tried to deceive the experimenter by giving lower voltages than was intended by experimenter

Question 22

What did these findings of Experiment 7 conclude?

Answer 22

Proximity is a key factor in obedience

Question 23

What are the strengths of Experiment 7? (2)

Answer 23

Included the same procedure meaning the variables changed (distance) were considered to be the deciding variable
Varied presence in other experiments support this claim

Question 24

What were the weaknesses of Experiment 7?

Answer 24

Unnatural situation
Participant was in an unautonomous state, weakening validity
Participants may not have believed in the shocks, also weakening validity

Question 25

What was Experiment 10?

Answer 25

It was a variation on Milgram’s original study using prestige as the independent variable.

Question 26

Why did Milgram think Experiment 10 was necessary?

Answer 26

Milgram thought the power entrenched in the location (Yale) may have affected obedience levels

Question 27

what happened in experiment 10

Answer 27

Used exactly the same procedure but changed the location to a run down office block

Question 28

What were the findings of Experiment 10?

Answer 28

The location change gave participants more doubts but they conveyed the same amount of tension as in Yale
Levels of obedience dropped from 65% to 47.5% (insignificant)

Question 29

What did the findings of Experiment 10 conclude?

Answer 29

Location didn’t significantly change obedience levels and therefore there was a lack of evidence in having a ‘legitimate’ setting and high obedience levels.

Question 30

What were the strengths of Experiment 10? (2)

Answer 30

Increase in validity ( real life situation)

Same procedure as original meaning cause-and-effect conclusion was easily drawn

Question 31

What were the weaknesses of Experiment 10? (3)

Answer 31

Question on validity as there was no significant obedience level drops
Real life settings should measure ‘real’ obedience levels but control took some of that away
A drop in levels, though insignificant, hows Yale to lack validity

Question 32

What was Experiment 13?

Answer 32

It was a variation on Milgram’s original study using authority and appearance as the independent variable

Question 33

What was the procedure for Experiment 13?

Answer 33

Used the same procedure
The experimenter gave instructions about shocking learner but didn’t say anything about ampage. The accomplice, known to the participant as the time keeper, suggest upping ampage with every incorrect answer.

Question 34

What were the findings of Experiment 13?

Answer 34

16/20 didn’t follow the ordinary man’s instructions,going as far as to restrain the ordinary man when he goes to u p the ampage whereas 4/20 went up to 450V

Question 35

What does this suggest about authority?

Answer 35

It suggests that authority is a key factor in obedience levels

Question 36

What are the strengths of Experiment 13? (3)

Answer 36

Same procedure allows for a direct comparison
Reliable as used in different variations with similar levels of disobedience
Saw accomplice draw lots (rigged) just like participant, meaning participants perceives them both to be of the same authority level

Question 37

What are the weaknesses of Experiment 13? (6)

Answer 37

Still significant amount of authority: apparatus and approval from Yale
Having another ‘participant’ may not be enough to remove the power difference
Artificial Surroundings
Changes to trust if trusting experimenter
Validity decreases when ordinary gives instructions
Experimenter leaving creates awkwardness and undermines credibility (lack of validity)

Question 38

The participant was asked to read a series of word pairs to the learner and administer electric shock of

Answer 38

increasing voltage for every incorrect answer

Question 39

The learner would be respond in ways such as

Answer 39

moaning
requests to be excused
agonised screams
kicking the wall and begging to be released

Question 40

Participant were given verbal prods such as

Answer 40

‘Please continue’
‘The experiment requires that you continue’
‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’
‘You have no other choice, you must go on’

Question 41

All 40 participants obeyed up to

Answer 41

300V at which point 5 refused to continue

Question 42

65% of participants gave shocks up to

Answer 42

450V

Question 43

What signs of stress did some of the participants give during the experiment?

Answer 43

They sweated, trembled, dug their fingernails into their flesh and visibly shook, 3 had seizures