Research into obedience - Milgram Flashcards
What is obedience?
A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order .
The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming
What was the Aim of Milgram’s study
Milgram’s aim was to investigate whether ordinary Americans would obey unjust orders and inflict pain on another
What was the procedure of Milgram’s study
40 American men volunteered in an experiment supposably on memory. When at the lab Milgram paired the volunteers with confederates. The volunteers thought the confederates were participants like them. The pairs were ‘Randomly’ put into groups Learners and Teachers (the confederates were always learners).
Teachers were told each time a learner got an answer wrong they were to administer an electric shock which progressively got higher (15V-450V). The participant could not see the learner.
If a participant tried to stop the experiment and experimenter (confederate) used verbal ‘prods’
to continue e.g. ‘the experiment requires you to continue’
What were the findings and conclusions of Milgram’s study
Findings - Everyone conducted a 300V shock
65% conducted the deadly 450V shock. Participant showed signs of extreme tension
Conclusions - Showed nearly all people will obey an unjust order by a perceived authority figure
How did Milgram recruit his participants?
What sample is this and what are the problems with this sample?
He put out an advert and stated he would pay for their time and participants volunteered to take part
Volunteer sample
- Only American males where experimented on
- They know they are a part of a study (demand characteristics)
How would you evaluate Milgram’s research
- Lack of internal validity
- High external validity
- Ethical issues
- Supporting replications show reliability of findings
How would you evaluate Milgram’s research
(Lack of internal validity)
Participants may have guesses the truth
It was said participants did not genuinely believe the shocks were real.
- Orne and Holland argued the artificial nature of the task combined with the unusual features of the procedure (calmness of the experimenter despite learners being in distress) may have lead participants to suspect that no real harm was taking place.
This suggests that Milgram’s study may not have measure obedience but the participants willingness to go along with a staged scenario. This challenges the validity of Milgram’s conclusions.
How would you evaluate Milgram’s research
(High external validity)
Despite concerns about internal validity Milgram’s research does have considerable external validity because it mirrors real life obedience in hierarchal situations
- Hofling et al. conducted a field study in a hospital where Nurses were instructed by an unknown doctor over the phone to inject a patient with a potentially harmful drug with double the dosage against hospital policy. 21/22 Nurses obeyed the order without hesitation.
This supports Milgram’s findings by showing that obedience to authority figures is not restricted to a lab increasing real world relevance
How would you evaluate Milgram’s research
(Ethical issues)
Milgram’s research raises numerous ethical issues particularly in regards to psychological harm and deception
- Many participants shown signs of extreme stress, anxiety etc and is a breach of protection from harm
- Participants were withheld from the true nature of the study believing they were delivering real harmful electric shocks which may have caused lasting guilt or distress.
- While Milgram did debrief his participants the ethical cost ahs lead to stricter ethical guidelines in modern psychological studies
How would you evaluate Milgram’s research
(Supporting replications show reliability of findings)
Milgram’s research has been replicated with similar findings.
- Burger (2009) conducted a partial replication of Milgram’s study using ethical safeguarding such as screening participants for vulnerability’s and stopping at 150 V
- Despite these changes Burger found obedience was 70% demonstrating a large proportion is still willing to obey authority figures even if its causing someone harm.
suggesting Milgram conclusions about obedience are reliable
