Obedience (Miligram's study) Flashcards
AO1: procedure
designed a baseline study used to asses obedience levels
- 40 American men volunteered
- Yale Uni
- Was supposedly on memory
- when each volunteer arrived he was introduced to another participant (confederate of miligram)
- drew lots to see who would be ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’. Fixed so that volunteer was always the teacher
- teacher could hear but not see learner
- teacher had to give learner an electric shock every time he made a mistake on a memory test
- shocks increased each time (shocks were fake)
AO1: findings
- all delivered shock up to 300 volts
- 65% continued to highest level
- teacher showed tension, sweating, stutter, biting their lips
AO3: limitation- low internal validity
however, puppy study
P: low internal validity
E:argued that the participants behaved the way they did because they knew the shock wasn’t real
E: researcher listened to the tapes of the study and found only half believed the shock was real
HOWEVER, similar study conducted on puppies. Participants asked to give real shock. 50% of males did and 100% of females did. Suggests effects in milgrams study were genuine and his findings were correct
AO3: ethical issues
however, debriefing
P: ethical issues
E: they were deceived
E: fixed roles, shock wasn’t real
HOWEVER, dealt by debriefing
AO3: strength- findings replicated in French documentary.
P: findings replicated in French documentary
E: game show where participants believed they were contestants and were paid to give fake electric shocks (ordered by presenter) to other participants (actors)
E: 80% delivered the max shock of 400 vaults
L: supports milgrams findings and shows the findings weren’t due to special circumstances
AO3: limitation- milgrams conclusion about blind obedience may not be justified
P: milgrams conclusion about blind obedience may not be justified
E: participants obeyed when experimenter gave the first 3 prods
E: but when given 4th prod ‘you have no other choice – you must go on’, they disobeyed
L: shows participants only obeyed when they identified with the scientific aims of the study
