as pyscology pt 3

Procedures of the Milgram Study

1. At the beginning of the experiment, they were introduced to another participant, who was a confederate of the experimenter (Milgram). 2 .They drew straws to determine their roles - learner or teacher - although this was fixed and the confederate was always the learner. There was also an "experimenter" dressed in a gray lab coat, played by an actor (not Milgram). Two rooms in the Yale Interaction Laboratory were used - one for the learner (with an electric chair) and another for the teacher and experimenter with an electric shock generator. 3. The "learner" (Mr. Wallace) was strapped to a chair with electrodes. After he has learned a list of word pairs given him to learn, the "teacher" tests him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its partner/pair from a list of four possible choices. The teacher is told to administer an electric shock every time the learner makes a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time. There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 (danger - severe shock). The learner gave mainly wrong answers (on purpose), and for each of these, the teacher gave him an electric shock 4. When the teacher refused to administer a shock, the experimenter was to give a series of orders/prods to ensure they continued. There were four prods and if one was not obeyed, then the experimenter (Mr. Williams) read out the next prod, and so on. Prod 1: Please continue. Prod 2: The experiment requires you to continue. Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue. Prod 4: You have no other choice but to continue.

Results of the Milgram Study

65% (two-thirds) of participants (i.e., teachers) continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All the participants continued to 300 volts. Milgram did more than one experiment - he carried out 18 variations of his study. All he did was alter the situation (IV) to see how this affected obedience (DV).

Agentic state

A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure, i.e. as their agent. This frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure.

Autonomous state

Behaving out of your own free will and taking responsibility for your behaviour

IV of the Milgram Experiment

In the first 4 experiments, the independent variable of the Stanley Milgram Experiment was the degree of physical immediacy of an authority.

Weaknesses of the Milgram Study

It also illustrates many of the limitations of experiments - it is still extremely artificial, not true to real life. somewhat unethical as how when they tried to stop they urged them to continue violating right to withdrawl

Background of the Milgram Study

Milgram (1963) examined justifications for acts of genocide offered by those accused at the World War II, Nuremberg War Criminal trials. Their defense often was based on "obedience" - that they were just following orders from their superiours. The experiments began in July 1961, a year after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Milgram devised the experiment to answer the question:

Debriefing in the Milgram Experiment

Milgram did debrief the participants fully after the experiment and also followed up after a period of time to ensure that they came to no harm. Milgram debriefed all his participants straight after the experiment and disclosed the true nature of the experiment.

Sampling Method of the Milgram Study

Milgram tested his hypothesis by using a laboratory experiment. The subjects were chosen from volunteers who had responded to a newspaper article. This means the sample was self-selecting.

Psychology Investigated in Milgram Study

One of the most famous studies of obedience in psychology was carried out by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University. He conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience.

Conclusions of the Milgram Study

Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up. People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right and/or legally based. This response to legitimate authority is learned in a variety of situations, for example in the family, school, and workplace.

Participant details of the Study

Participants were 40 males, aged between 20 and 50, whose jobs ranged from unskilled to professional, from the New Haven area.

Strengths of the Milgram Study

Some of the obvious advantages include the fact that it's got excellent reliability, given the similar results gained on the two repeats, and it's still a useful tool for waking us up to just how quiescent to authority many of us are, challenging theories such as the flight from deference.

Experiment Design of the Milgram Study

The Milgram experiment was carried out many times whereby Milgram (1965) varied the basic procedure (changed the IV). By doing this Milgram could identify which factors affected obedience (the DV). Obedience was measured by how many participants shocked to the maximum 450 volts (65% in the original study).

DV of the Milgram Experiment

The dependent variable was compliance

Dispositional hypothesis

The dispositional hypothesis proposes that both prisoners and guards have personalities that make conflict inevitable. Prisoners lack respect for law and order, while guards have to be domineering and physically forceful to control aggressive inmates.

Ecological Validity of the Milgram Experiment

The experiment required pp's to give shocks to another person, this is not something people do in everyday life so lacks ecological validity. PP's may have guessed the experiment was not real and shown demand characteristics. They may have given the shocks because they thought that was what Milgram wanted.

Situational Hypothesis

The idea behind situational hypothesis is that people make decisions based on their circumstances, or situation.

Aim of the Milgram Study

researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person.

Deception in the Milgram Experiment

the participants actually believed they were shocking a real person and were unaware the learner was a confederate of Milgram's. However, Milgram argued that "illusion is used when necessary in order to set the stage for the revelation of certain difficult-to-get-at-truths."

Right to Withdraw in the Milgram Experiment

this is one of the weaknesses of the experiment as it violated right to withdraw as when they wanted to stop they urged them to continue