Milgram(1963)- Obedience

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ALEVEL PSYCHOLOGY Flashcards on Milgram(1963)- Obedience, created by Dhara Bechra on 03/04/2017.
Dhara Bechra
Flashcards by Dhara Bechra, updated more than 1 year ago
Dhara Bechra
Created by Dhara Bechra almost 7 years ago
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Resource summary

Question Answer
Milgram (1963) - Obedience Looked at influence of authority figures. His article refered to Germany SS officers in WW2.
Aims & Research Q's Why do people obey authority? To investigate how obedient people would be to orders that result in pain and harm to another person.
Research Method Lab Experiment DV: Obedience Obedience operationalised as max. voltage given. No IV
Sample 40 Men aged 20-50 self-selecting. Adverts in newspaper and email for men to take part in study of memory and learning at Yale Uni. Each paid $4 and travel expenses. 37.5% manual labourers, 40% white-collar workers, 22.5% professionals. New Haven District, North America.
Procedure (1) Participants arrived, told that experiment was looking at how punishment affected learning. Participants drew lots with Mr. Wallace (confederate) to see who would play the teacher and learner. Draw was fixed - Mr Wallace was always learner.
Procedure (2) Mr. Wallace strapped into chair in another room and attached to electric shock machine. Teacher given sample shock to demonstrate machine was working.
Procedure (3) Teacher read out list of word pairs and learner had to say which of four was correct. When learner got answer wrong, electric shock was given by teacher which increased in intensity with each mistake. 15V-450V
Procedure (4) Mr. Wallace recorded script which gave mainly wrong answers. Teacher gave electric shock each time. When shocks reached 300V, learner pounded on wall and shouted to be 'let out'.
Procedure (5) At 315V, learner pounded on wall again and then remained silent. When teacher felt unsure about continuing, experimenter used series of 4 'prods' which were repeated.
Procedure (6) Prod 1: Please Continue Prod 2: The experiment requires that you continue. Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue. Prod 4: You have no other choice, you must go on.
Results 100% gave 300V or more. 65% gave full 450V. 22.5% stopped at 315V. Quantitative data: the voltage of shocks. Qualitative data: comments and protests of participants during procedure.
Results (2) Most of them seen to 'sweat, tremble, stutter, bite their lips' and some laughed nervously (14) and smiled in bizarre fashion. ! participant had full blown seizures.
Conclusion Proposal of an agentic state to explain high levels of obedience - experimenter passing on responsibility for consequences of his actions.
Conclusion (2) He also concluded high levels of obedience were caused by prestige and high social status of Yale (social influence).
Evaluation Lab experiment: + High control, eliminates extraneous variables. - Lack of ecological validity due to not real life setting. Procedure has good reliability as it can be replicated due to being highly controlled.
Evaluation (2) Physical and Psychological Distress: seizures and forced to continue. informed consent not obtained as pp's agreed to take part in learning experiment, not study of obedience.
Evaluation (3) Participants deceived: purpose of study, nature of confederate, reality of shocks and they were not allowed to withdraw from the experiment. 35% withdrew from the giving all shocks.
Evaluation (4) Sample not generalised: only 40 men. Not ethnocentric: all men from same region in USA. Volunteer sampling used: unrepresentative of target population.
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