Social (CLASSIC) - responses to people in authority - MILGRAM Flashcards
classic study and year
Milgram (1963)
social principles
- social environment around us influences our behavior and thought processes
- our relationships with others in society influence our behavior and thought processes
define agentic state
a psychological phenomenon in which an individual gives up their autonomy and moral responsibility to an authority figure. In this state, the individual perceives themselves as an agent of the authority figure and is willing to carry out their commands, even if it goes against their own moral code
define the ‘germans are different’ theory
aim of study
investigate process of obedience by testing how far an individual will go in obeying an authority figure, even when the command breaches the moral code that an individual should not hurt another person against his will
what did participants believe they were doing in Milgram’s study
memory test
sample in Milgram’s study and how were they chosen
40 males aged between 20-50 years from New Haven, USA from a range of occupations
responded to a newspaper advert to volunteer for a study on memory and learning at Yale university
what happened when the participants first entered the study
they were met by a stern looking experimenter in a white lab coat called Jack Williams and told they would be involved in a study into the effect of punishment on learning
what happened when the participants began the study
the 40 participants were always given the role of ‘teacher’ through a fixed lottery and the ‘learner’ was played by the same confederate each time by a man known as ‘Mr Wallace’. The ‘learner was strapped to a chair with non active electrodes strapped to his arms. The ‘teachers’ were given a trial shock of 45 volts to stimulate genuineness
who was Mr Wallace
confederate who payed the role of the ‘learner’ and was said to be mild mannered
what happened when everything was set up ready
the ‘teacher’ sat in front of an electric shock generator in an adjacent room. He had to conduct a paired word test on the learner and give him an electric shock of increasing intensity for every wrong answer
describe the generator
machine had 30 switches ranging from 15-450 volts in15 volt increments
how did the ‘learner’ standardize his responses
the learner produced via a tape recording a set of predetermined responses giving approximately 3 wrong answers to every correct one
what happened at 300 volts
he pounded on the wall
what happened at 315 volts
pounding is repeated and afterwards he goes silent nor does his answers reappear on the four way signal box
what were the standardize prods
if the ‘teacher’ turned to the experimenter who was also a confederate for advice on whether to proceed the experimenter responded with a series of standardized prods
1. ‘please continue’ or ‘please go on’
2. ‘the experiment requires that you continue’
3. ‘it is absolutely that you continue’
4. ‘you have no other choice; you must go on’
what happened as soon as the study finished
the participants were fully debriefed and introduced to the ‘learner’ and the obedient ones were told that there behavior was normal.
what happened in the long term after the study
Milgram had independent psychiatrists interview the participants a year later, where no long term psychological effects were observed
results - quantitative
100% of participants (40/40) continued to 300 volts
65% (26/40) participants continued to the full 450 volts
results - qualitative
many participants showed signs of extreme stress whilst administrating the shocks e.g sweating, trembling, stuttering, laughing nervously. 3 had uncontrollable seizures. On completion of the test, many obedient participants heaved sighs of relief, mopped theor brows and nervously fumbled for cigarettes. Some shook their heads apparently in regret however some remained calm throughout
what did Milgram conclude about the ‘Germans are different theory’
that it was false. Milgram’s sample was 40 ordinary Americans with high levels of obedience showing that people obey those seen as authority figures. If we were to live in 1930s Germany, we have been just as obedient
possible explanations for the high levels of obedience
13 possible explanations were offered
1. study was carried out at a prestigious university of Yale influenced participants as to the worthiness of the study and the competence of the researcher
2. the participants were told the shocks were not harmful
3. situation was completely new for the participants so he had no past experience his behavior
results and conclusions
- 100% of participants administered a 300v shock to the learner SHOWS THAT inhumane acts can be done by ordinary people
- 65% of participants administered a 450v shock to the learner despite showing signs of visible distress e.g sweating SHOWS THAT people will obey others whom they consider legitimate autority figures even if they are asked to go against their moral beliefs
- participants showed visable signs of distress, such as sweating and trembling during the word pairs procedure which SHOWS THAT people obey certain situational features lead them to suspend their sense of autonomy and become an agent of an authority figure
describe the research method
controlled observation
no independent variable
the study took place in a laboratory at Yale uni so conditions could be controlled e.g who who the learner/teacher was and standardized prods
data was gathered through observations made by both the experimenter who was in the same room as the participant and others who observed the process through one way mirrors
most sessions were recorded on magnetic tape, occasional photos were taken through the one way mirrors and notes were made on unusual behaviors
ecological validity
low - such an extreme task in an artificial situation so it can’t be genralized to real life obedience
high - while electrocuting and harming someone are extreme tasks of obedience, so too were the actions of the Holocaust
quantitative data strength
measured the level of obedience the participants stopped at. Allowed for easy comparison of obedience levels between participants
qualitative data strength
gives us insight into why the participants did or not obey the order to shock
was the sample representative of the target population
all male participants were from a range of backgrounds so representative of the males from New Haven. All male so were reflective of the German army in ww2
weakness of sample
only men were used which tells us nothing about why women may or not obey destructive orders. Also they were all from one area so there may be some cultural variation in that area that makes people behave differently from elsewhere
strength of sampling method
volunteer generally produces a varied samplei.e a range of men would have responded to the advert
weakness of sampling method
may be a biased sample as most people who volunteer are keen to get involved with the research so the findings of high levels of obedience may be hard to generalize to most people
breaching ethical guideline of deception in the study
two false aims
role of confederates
allocation of teacher/learner roles
what was the justification for breaching deception
avoid demand characteristics so natural behavior was obtained so valid results could be collected
breaching ethical guideline of protection from harm in the study
qualitative data collected tells us how 3 participants had uncontrollable seizures during the task
how did Milgram respond to the ethical guideline of protection from harm
he conducted a full debrief at the end of the study
breaching ethical guideline of right to withdraw in the study
the 4 prods made participants feel that they were unable to leave the study when they felt uncomfortable. They also felt obliged to stay and earn the money
how did Milgram respond to the ethical guideline of right to withdraw in the study
- participants were told at the start when paid that it was theirs to keep regardless and were told at the start that they had the right to withdraw
- the prods were an essential part of testing obedience and given the point above supports that the results on high levels of obedience were valid
comment on the reliability of the study
classed as having high levels of replicability as the basic procedure has been replicated many times and it is easy to follow e.g allocation of roles, shock generator. This means that has always been easy for other psychologists to follow the research and check for the reliability of the findings about destructive obedience
what are practical applications
how useful the research is to society - can we use the knowledge to help create interventions/ understand/ real world behavior
comment on the practical application on Milgram’s study
increased our understanding of how atrocities happen
there are applications for the study in surprising areas such as accident prevention. Tarnow (2000) analyzed 37 plane crashes and suggested that 25% of them could have been avoided had the pilot disobeyed an order from someone on the ground. This suggests that Milgram’s research may be able to help us find out ways to prevent accidents
define ethnocentrism
using one’s own cultural norms to explain behavior of people from other cultures - there must be a difference in cultures to be ethnocentric
comment on the ethnocentrism of Milgram’s study
only Americans were involved and a weakness of this is that America is an individualist culture where people are more concerned with personal needs than the needs of the community. By contrast many non-western cultures are collectivist and emphasize the importance of group needs above individual needs. Members of such cultural groups might be more concerned about the learner’s suffering and less likely to obey an authority figure
according to Milgram, what did obedience involve
the abdication of individual judgement in the face of some external social pressure - this means that we do as we are told regardless of what we think about the behavior that we have been told to carry out
three things that obedience involves
- being ordered or instructed to do something
- being influenced by an authority figure of superior status
- the maintenance of social power and status of the authority figure in a hierarchal society
