social influence - milgram's study Flashcards
what is meant by obedience?
is a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order.
background of milgram’s study
he wanted to find the answer on why the german population followed the orders of hitler.
the aim of his study
to investigate how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involves harming another person.
what was the procedure?
40 males from a newspaper advert
ad was about a memory study
aged between 20 - 50 years
$4.50 was offered if they took part
lab study
confederate = learner named mr wallace
participants were the teacher
confederate = experimenter in a lab coat
further information about the procedure
learning word pairs
teacher was required to give electric shocks when the learner made a mistake
shocks were not real
results from the study
shock level started at 15 (slight shock) and then rose through 30 levels to 450 volts (labelled danger severe shocks)
300 volts = learner pounding on the wall and no response on the next question
315 volts = pounding on the wall again and no further responses after.
how many prods were there?
4
what were the prods?
‘please continue.’
‘the experiment requires that you continue.’
‘it is absolutely essential that you continue.’
‘you have no other choice; you must go on.’
what were the findings?
no participants stooped below 300 volts.
12.5% (5 people) stopped at 300 volts
65% continued to the highest level of 450 volts.
what were the ethical issues in this study?
most of the people were sweating, trembling, stuttering, biting their lips, dug their fingernails into their hands.
3 had full blown uncontrollable seizures.
what data was collected?
qualitative
