Milgram’s research - the agentic state, legitimate authority,

What are the two levels that Milgram suggests that people can operate on?

autonomous state, agentic state

What is the autonomous state? (2)

when we feel personally responsible for our actions and behaviour, we are more likely to act in accordance with the law and our moral conscience

What is the agentic state? (2)

when an individual feels they can shift the responsibility for their own actions on to an authority figure, allowing them to act in ways that they wouldn’t if they were in an autonomous state

When does the shift between states occur?

when an individual decides there is a legitimate authority figure giving orders

What 3 factors affect whether a person perceives a source to have legitimate authority?

uniform, proximity, location

Give an example of how uniform affects a person’s perception of legitimate authority

people are socialised to be believe in the authority of a person in a white coat over a lay person

Give an example of how proximity affects a person’s perception of legitimate authority (2)

people are more likely to perceive a teacher’s authority as legitimate if they are standing over an individual asking them to write an answer, compared to if they set it as homework

Give an example of how location affects a person’s perception of legitimate authority

people are more likely to perceive a flight attendant’s authority as legitimate on a plane rather than on the street

What makes a person have a perceived legitimate authority? (2)

they have a role defined by society that gives them a right to exert their control over others, due to their status in society, conveyed by a uniform or location

Why are we more likely to obey those that we perceive as having legitimate authority?

we assume they know what they are doing

What is obedience?

whether a person follows direct orders given by another person

How is obedience different from compliance? (4)

participants embrace obedience as an explanation for their behaviour, based on power as occurs within a hierarchy, behaviour of the authority figure differs as they only give the orders, prescription for action is explicit

When did Milgram perform his original study?

1963

What was the aim of Milgram’s study? (2)

to research how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming someone, testing the belief that ‘germans are different’

What did Milgram predict?

in the right circumstances anyone can perform an evil act

What type of obedience was Milgram studying?

Destructive obedience

What characteristics did the participants have? (3)

40 male Americans, ages 20-50, from a range of jobs

Where was the experiment performed and why is it significant? (2)

Yale University, the location may impact the behaviour of the participants

Why were the participants sure to be from a variation of jobs?

to make the results generalisable

What was the method used? (2)

the naïve participant is ordered to press a button knowing it would give an electric shock, playing the role as a teacher on a word pairs task to Mr Wallace

How does Milgram make sure the naïve participant believe they will be administering a real electric shock?

They receive the only real electric shock in the experiment at 45V

How was the experiment standardised? (3)

Before the experiment started Mr Wallace unstrapped himself and played prerecorded responses of protest at specific points in the experiment, the experimenter is given a script of the same 4 prods, Mr Wallace is used as the same confederate every time

What was the key prod said by the experimenter to make the naïve participant believe they had no choice?

“you have no other choice but to continue”

What were the physical responses as a result of the experiment? (6)

sweating, trembling, stuttering, biting their lips, groaning, digging fingernails into their flesh

How many participants had nervous laughing fits?

14/40

How many naïve participants had uncontrollable seizures?

3

What percentage of naïve participants went up to 300V?

100%

What percentage of naïve participants went up to 450V?

65%

What percentage of naïve participants stopped before 450V?

35%

What percentage of naïve participants believed they were giving real shocks and that Mr Wallace was harmed or dead?

70%

What statistics can be used to rebut the argument of the ethical issues of the experiment? (2)

84% of naïve participants said that they were happy to have participated and 74% said they learned something about themselves

What percentage of naïve participants were unhappy they participated?

less than 2%

What conclusions can be made from Milgram’s original study about obedience? (5)

most ordinary people will follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent person, Germans aren’t different, obedience to authority is ingrained in us from the way we are brought up, therefore obedience is not due to individual differences in personality