Social: Milgram on Destructive Obedience

Question 1

key theme

Answer 1

responses to people in authority

Question 2

context: Germans are different hypothesis

Answer 2

inspired by Germans destructive obedience in Nazi Germany, implying that obedience was an individual difference, unique to the German culture

Question 3

aims

Answer 3

1. investigate how obedient people would be in response to orders from an authority figure that would bring pain and harm to another
2. how far the electric shock would be before ptcpts stopped following orders

Question 4

design and method

Answer 4

lab environment
controlled observation NOT experiment

NO IVs

Question 5

DV

Answer 5

obedience

Question 6

sample

Answer 6

self-selected
40 men, age range 20- 50 from a range of backgrounds
recruited through newspaper and promised 4 dollars

Question 7

procedure (6 steps)

Answer 7

1. 40 ptcpts always given teacher role through rigged draw, and saw learner (confederate) strapped into chair with (inactive) electrodes attached to arms.
2. learners given trial shock pf 40V to simulate genuinity.
3. teacher sat infront of electric shock generator in adjacent room and conducted paired word test on learner. Machine had 30 switches ranging from 15- 450V, and electric shock increases in intensity for every wrong answer.
4. learner produced (via tape recording) set of predetermined responses of sounding in pain. At 300V pounded wall and then made no further replies.
5. if teacher turned to experimenter on advice regarding proceeding, set of standardised prods given:
   “ please continue/ please go on”
   “ you have no other choice you must go on”
   “it is absoloutely essential that you continue”
   “ the experiment requires that you continue”
6. study finished when either teacher refused to continue (disobedience) or reached 450V (obedience), and ptcpt fully debriefed at end.

Question 8

results: quantitative data

Answer 8

all ptctps reached minimum 300V before stopping

PREDICTIONS:
1. students predicted only
1.2% would administer max shock
2. staff predicted 0.1%

REALITY:
65% administered max shock

Question 9

results: qualitative data

Answer 9

comments and protests from ptcpts

PAIN ASSESSMENT:
ptcpts rated shock pain as avrg. 13.42 out of 14

BODY LANGUAGE:
1. stuttering
2. tension
3. nervous giggling (14)
4. sweating
5. groaning
6. biting lips
7. severe seizure (1)

Question 10

conclusions

Answer 10

obedience to destructive orders was much higher that expected, this may be due to:
1. conflict of morals
2. the heavy influence of situational factors on moral decision making