Obedience To Authority Flashcards
What is obedience
-> a form of social influence where an individual behaves as instructed to by an authority figure (someone who has the power to punish / status etc,)
What was Milgram’s aim (1963)
To investigate the level of obedience participants would show when an authority figure tells them to cause another person harm
Dispositional vs Situational factors
Dispositional - our behaviour is determined by internal factors e.g how you are
Situational factors - that behaviour is determined by the environment and surroundings
E.g. I worked hard for that grade vs the teacher doesn’t like me
How did Milgran (1963) get participants
Placed an advert in a newspaper asking for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yake University
How many participants, how much they were paid
40 males
$4 per hour
Where were the participants invited to
Psych department of Yale Uni, where they were met by the experimenter (a man in a white lab coat)
Who was Mr Wallace
A 47 year old man who people were told was another participant
#-> he was a confederate who pretended to have a weak heart
- fixed set up that Mr Wallace would always be the learner in the learner / teacher draw
What was the role of the teacher
To punish the learner if they made a mistake on the memory test by administering an electric shock
Milgram - extra procedure details
The learner was taken to a room and hooked up to the electric shock machine.
The teacher was placed in an ad joining room with the electric shock machine controls and the experimenter. The electric shock machine and the controls were fake but were very convincing. To administer shocks, the teacher pressed switches on the electric shock machine controls. Each switch was labelled with a voltage rating, starting at 15 volts and rising in increments of 15 volts to a level of 450 volts. Additionally, each group of four switches was labelled with text such as ‘Slight Shock, ‘Moderate Shock, all the way up to ‘Danger: Severe Shock. The final few switches were marked ‘XXX’. As the shocks became more severe Mr Wallace demanded to be released from the experiment, screamed, kicked the wall, complained about his weak heart, refused to answer the questions and finally went silent.
How did the experimenter try to ensure that the teacher continue with the experiment
-> when the teacher showed reluctance the experimenter prompted him continue, using 1/4 statements
- please continue
- the experiment requires that you continue
- it is absolutely essential that you continue
- you have no choice, you must continue
Findings of Milgrams research (1963)
- 100% of participants gave shocks up to 300 volts
- 65% of participants gave shocks all the way up to 450 volts
- pp’s felt a high level of stress during the experiment, showing symptoms e.g. trembling, sweating, hysterical laughter
Milgram AO3 P1 (-) ethical issues ; deception
-> deception about what study was really about
-> lack of informed consent therefore (as they didn’t know)
-> thought electric shocks were real
- thought mr Wallace was another pp with a weak heart
-> participants told they weren’t allowed to leave the experiment (violates right to withdraw from the experiment)
- however, deception needed to avoid demand characteristics + therefore increases study validity
AO3 - P2 (-) unrepresentative Milgram 1963
-> sample unrepresentative as all participants were white American males
-> can’t be generalised to women (gender bias) or other cultures (cultural bias)
-> however, study has been replicated with women with similar obedience rates
AO3 P3 (+) valid cost benefit analysis
Despite the ethical issues with Milgram’s (1963) study many psychologists feel that after conducting a cost-benefit analysis (weighing the harm a study has done against the valuable knowledge is has provided) the study was worthwhile.
We now know that most people could potentially do the same thing, leading to people taking more responsibility and not blindly following orders. The participants did not suffer any true long-term emotional disturbances and most (84%) of them said they were happy to have taken part and that they had learnt something important from the experience.
P4 - AO3 (+) supporting replication; Le Jeu De La Mort
Le jeu de la mort, a documentary about reality tv includes a replication of the Milgram study
-> 80% of pp’s delivered a max shock of 460 volts to an apparently unconscious man
-> behaviour also mirrors milgrams pps (nervous laughter etc)
- this supports Milgram o.g. conclusion about obedience to authority
