Paper 2 - Milgram on Obedience Flashcards
What was the aim of Milgram’s study ?
To investigate the process of obedience, to demonstrate the power of legitimate authority even when the command requires destructive behaviour. Specifically, whether participants would obey the command of an authority figure to give electric shocks to another person.
What did Milgram originally believe about Germans and how was this proved wrong?
He believed that the inhumane obedience of Nazi Germans could be explained by the fact that Germans are more obedient people from other countries/cultures(dispositional factors). He wanted to conduct a pilot study on Americans to see if his procedure works, however, he found that Americans were highly obedient, this gave evidence that obedience is due yo situational Factors rather than dispositional factors.
Where did this experiment take place ?
psychology department of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
How did Milgram recruit his participants ?
He placed an advertisement in a local newspaper and a leaflet in the post, in the advert he stated that the study would be related to memory and each participant will be paid $4.00 and 50cents car fare for an hour of their time. He also stated that the participants must be male between the ages of 20-50 not in high school/college.
Who was in Milgram’s final sample ?
40 men 20-50years, not in high school or college, from various occupations and educational backgrounds. They were told that they would be given the $4.50 no matter what happened after they arrived.
Who played the role of the experimenter and the learner (victim) ?
The experimenter was played by a 31 year old biology teacher who wore a technicians coat. The learner (victim) was played by a 47 year old accountant who had been trained for the role. They were both accomplices of Milgram.
What material/apparatus was used and what was the process of this ?
The shock generator had 30 switches, each labelled from 15-450 volts, going up in increments of 15. They were also labelled with descriptions of the shock, e.g. strong shock.
In order to deceive participants, each participant took a sample shock of 45volts to their wrist to prove that the shock generator was real.
The teacher was told to give a shock to the learner if they got the answer wrong, each time a shocks was given a higher voltage was selected. The teacher also had to read aloud the voltage of the shock to remind themselves of the intensity of the shock.
What happened in he beginning of the procedure when the teacher and learner met and was strapped to the machine ?
The true participant met the other ‘participant’ (the accountant), and the roles were given out, the true participant always got the teacher role. The learner and teacher were taken to the laboratory and the learner was strapped into the ‘electrical chair apparatus’ to prevent ‘excessive movement when the shocks are given’. An electrode was strapped to the learners wrist and to the shock generator in the next room. The experimenter advised them that ‘although the shocks can be extremely painful, they cause no permanent tissue damage.’
How was the learner being tested
The teacher was asked to read allowed a series of word pairs to the learner along with 4 possible answers . If the learner got it wrong the teacher would administer a shock.
Describe the feedback from the victim during the study
The learner had a predetermined set of responses, giving 3 wrong answers with every correct answer. The learner gave no protest until 300V when they pounded on the wall but gave no further response, if the teacher turned to the experimenter for advice he was to continue. At 315V the learner pounded on the wall again and gave no further protest.
Describe the experimenter feedback section throughout the study
If the teacher turned to the experimenter for advice on whether to continue, the experimenter was trained to give a series of standard ‘prods’ which were always made in a specific sequence, e.g. “you have no other choice”, “you must go on” and “ it causes to permanent tissue damage”
Describe the debrief of this study
After the study an interview (debrief) was given to each participant, consisting of the true aims of the study, various open questions and psychological tests. After, procedures occurred to ensure that the participant left the lab in a state of well-being. A friendly reconciliation with the learner happened so that the participant could see that no harm was caused
What were the preliminary predictions ?
Milgram described the study to 14 psychology undergraduates and asked them to predict how 100 participants would behave. They predicted that no more than 3% would continue to 450V.
What was the quantitative data that was collected from the study ?
12.5% of participants stopped after 300v when the learner pounded on the wall. 65% delivered all 450volt shocks. This meant that 100% were obedient until 300v but that some were not fully obedient as they stopped after that.
What was the qualitative data collected from the study ?
Many participants showed nervousness and a large number showed extreme tension: “were observed to sweat, tremble, stutter, bite their lips, groan and dig their fingernails into their flesh”.
14 displayed nervous laughter and 3 has “full blown, uncontrollable seizures”.
comments from participants: “i don’t think this is very humane”, “i cant go on with this”, “ill hurt his heart”. Some simply got up and left without saying anything. Those who continued to the end gave sigh of relief, some shook their heads in regret and some remained calm.
