Social Psychology - Milgram Flashcards
Aims of milgrams study of obedience
-Wanted to test the ‘Germans are different’ hypothesis
-argued that Germans have an authoritarian personality so are more obedient to authority and more likley to be predujiced to minority groups as a result of unconscious hostility from a disciplined upbringing
What is obedience
A form of social influence in which an individual a direct order - the person issuing the order is usually a figure of perceived authority - he focused on destructive obedience
Methodology
Controlled observation in a lab environment
Participants
40 males aged 20-50
Range of jobs
Varied education level (some that didn’t finish primary school to some with a doctrine)
Self selected sample
Each paid £4.50 for taking part even if they didn’t complete the study
Procedure
1-invited to the lab to take part in what they thought was a memory experiment
2-took place at Yale with a 31 year old dressed in a lab coat
3-drew slips to determine who would play each role (confederate always got learner)
4-teacher sees learner strapped to electric chair
5-shown volt meter ranging from 15-450volts
6-teacher was given a sample shock of 45v
7-learning task: words paired together then repeated words with 3 options - they had top match the correct paired word - if they got it wrong the volts increased
8-experimenters 4 verbal pods: ‘please continue’ ‘the experiment requires you to continue’ ‘its essential you continue’ ‘its not harmful no damage has been done’
10- full debrief given
Milgrams findings
-before the study he estimated only 0-3% would administer the full 450v
Overall conclusions:
Ordinary people are shockingly obedient to destructive orders and in certain situations people would kill a stranger
Quantitative:
-all gave minimum of 300v
-12% went no further
-65% gave full 450%
Qualitative:
-most showed signs of extreme tensions “full blown uncontrollable seziures’ ‘sweating, trembling and stuttering’
E.g the subject 46y/o male (encyclopaedia salesman) was seriously embarrassed by his untoward and uncontrollable behaviour
Factors contributing to behaviour:
-location
-perception of legitimacy
-obligation to participate
-inability to discuss with others
Discuss the use of the experimental method - milgram (12)
Controlled lab observation:
+ extraneous and confounding variables controlled e.g temp
- low ecological validity so may cause demand characteristics e.g not shocking to make them self look better
Self selected sample:
+ quick and easy as p’s are interested
- p’s may be eager to impress researcher - social desirability
Sample:
+diverse sample as education and jobs were varied (20-50)
-40 males so not representative to women and participant variables will occur due to age range
Evaluation of sample - population validity
S-weakness
E-p’s were all male and from a volunteer sample
E- can’t be generalised to women (androcentric)
C-however in later studies milgram did repeat the stufy on a group of females who showed more hesitation and drop out
W-weakness as it can’t be generalised to over 50% of population
Evaluation - ecological (external validity)
S-weakness as it lacks ecological validity
E-research takes place in a lab were ev/cv’s are controlled
E-in real life obedience isn’t as overt as this as p’s are unlikely to be asked to administer electric shocks in daily life
W-not a natural environment so can’t generalise or replicate in daily life
Evaluation ethics (deception)
S-ethical weakness
E-p’s not told the aim of the study they thought it was a memory test and not informed about electric shocks
E-breaches BPS guidelines as p’s were lied to
W-weakness as it interferes with p’s ability to give informed consent
C-were fully debriefed?
Evaluation - internal validity
S-weakness
E-research assumes the p’s believed they were administering real life shocks
E-this is unlikely as it is unreasonable to administer deathly 450v shocks when someone gets a question wrong
C-however milgram reported that 85% of p’s did truly believe it was real
W-if p’s guessed the aims of the study they may have changed behaviour to appear more desirable or do what they think the researcher wants
