Social Psychology- AO1

A level Edexcel Psychology Topic 1- Social Psychology. AO1 (KNOWLEDGE) ONLY. Currently missing social impact theory, individual differences and situation and culture, as well as prejudice.

Why did Milgram say that obedience to authority is necessary?

He said that it ‘is necessary for the smooth running of society.’

Milgram said that we are all ____ ____ _ ________ for obedience with society.

Born with a potential

What did Milgram say are the two mindsets that we have?

Autonomous State and Agentic State.

In the autonomous state behaviour is ____-________

self-directed

In the autonomous state we take _______ ____________ for the consequences of our actions.

Greater responsibility

When would you be in the autonomous state?

When you are on your own, with peers or those perceived ‘below us’ in ‘social hierarchy’.

When do we make the Agentic Shift?

When we meet someone whom we consider to be a legitimate authority, who is higher than us in social hierarchy.

In the Agentic State we are an ‘_____’ of the authority figure.

Agent

In the Agentic State, how do we feel about responsibility?

We take little to no responsibility for our own actions.

In the Agentic state, we may follow orders feeling like we have __ ______ but to obey.

No choice

What is destructive obedience?

When we follow an order that we may not have done in the autonomous state, causing harm or destruction.

What is moral strain?

A state of anxiety caused when your personal actions conflict with your morality.

When was Milgram’s Baseline Study conducted?

1963

Milgram wanted to test whether _______ were particularly ________ to authority figures to seek an explanation for their obedience in slaughtering millions of people in WW2.

Germans, obedient

What was Milgram’s Aim of his Baseline Study?

He wanted to see if volunteer participants would be obedient when the command required destructive obedience.

Why was Milgram’s Baseline Study not considered an experiment? What is it instead known as?

As there was no independent variable. It was a controlled observation.

Describe Milgram’s sample in his Baseline Study (1963).

It was a volunteer sample of 40 men in New Haven, Connecticut. They were aged between 20 and 50, and were a mix of occupations and education levels.

In Milgram’s Baseline Study, what did the experimentor tell the participant that the aim of the study was?

To see how punishment affected learning.

A _____ lot was drawn to decide who would be the ‘_______’ and who would be the ‘_______’. The participant was always the _______.

1. Fixed

2. Teacher

3. Learner

4. Teacher

Give two ways in which Milgram tried to make the teacher believe that the electric shocks were real.

The participant watched the electrodes being put on the learner. The participant (teacher) also had a real shock of 45V.

What was the teacher asked to do in Milgram’s Baseline Study?

They were asked to read a series of word pairs to the learner, and then read the first word of the pair along with four options. The learner had to answer correctly, or the teacher should administer a shock.

How much would the shocks increase by with every wrong answer in Milgram’s Baseline Study?

15V

When could the learner hear pounding on the wall in Milgram’s Baseline Study?

300-315V

What were the 4 prods that were used in Milgram’s Baseline Study?

1. Please go on/continue.

2. The experiment requires you to continue,

3. It is absolutely essential that you continue

4. You have no other choice, you must go on.

Milgram also collected ____ _______ including participants’ reactions and dialogue. Post study interviews provided _________ data.

1. Film footage

2. Qualitative

What level of shock did Milgram find that 100% of participants would administer in his Baseline study (1963)?

300V

What percentage of people went to the maximum 450V in Milgram’s Baseline Study (1963)?

65%

What were participants observed doing?

Trembling, twitching, laughing nervously and sweating. 3 participants also had seizures.

What were the conclusions of Milgram’s Baseline study (1963)?

• Ordinary Americans were surprisingly obedient to authority, even when it causes them distress

• Milgram suggested a number of factors which may explain obedience in this study, including the reputation of Yale University, and that the participants believing that they were helping to advance science.

Give two changes that Milgram made in the New Baseline (Experiment 5).

The lab was more modest and the learner mentioned that he has a mild heart condition before the study began.

What percentage of participants continues past 150V in Milgram’s New Baseline?

82.5%

What percentage of participants were fully obedient in Milgram’s New Baseline?

65%

What are 3 of Milgram’s variations that we study?

1. Experiment 7- Proximity

2. Experiment 10- Setting

3. Experiment 13- Status

What does Milgram’s experiment 7 test?

The effect of proximity on obedience.

How was experiment 7 run differently to Milgram’s New Baseline?

Although it started the same as the New Baseline, the experimentor left the room and gave instructions over the phone.

What percentage of participants were fully obedient in Milgram’s Experiment 7?

22.5%

How was experiment 10 different to Milgram’s New Baseline?

It was conducted in a rundown office block, in an industrial city called Bridgeport.

What percentage of participants were fully obedient in Milgram’s Experiment 10?

47.5%

How was experiment 13 different from Milgram’s New Baseline?

An ‘ordinary man’ gave the instructions.

How was Milgram’s Experiment 13 carried out?

The experimenter gave initial experiments and then left the room. Confederate 2, who the participant was told was recording times, suggested to the participant that they give the shocks.

In Milgram’s Experiment 13, what percentage of participants were fully obedient?

20%

Give the 3 aims of Burger’s 2009 Study.

1. To see whether Milgram’s findings were era-bound

2. To see whether obedience is affected by gender and personality traits

3. To see whether ‘norm information’ influences obedience.

Which two traits did Burger assess in his study (2009)?

Empathy and desire for personal control

Prior to Burger’s 2009 study, people argued that ‘individuals these days are more _____ of the dangers of _______ following authority than they were in the early 19__s.

Aware, blindly, 1960s

Did Burger predict that there would be a significant difference in obedience between the participants of 1961 compared to 2006?

No

Did Burger predict that there would be a significant difference in gender?

No

What did Burger predict about empathy?

He predicted that participants with higher scores for empathetic concern would administer lower shocks.

What did Burger predict about desire for personal control?

He predicted that participants with a higher desire for personal control would administer lower shocks.

What did Burger Predict about Norm Information? Why?

Burger predicted that due to moral strain, participants would eagerly rely on limited norm information, therefore, seeing one other person refuse to shock would allow them to conclude that refusal is appropriate.

Describe the sample of Burger’s 2009 study.

It was a volunteer sample, which then went through a screening process, resulting in a final sample of 29 men and 41 women aged 20-81.

Describe step one of Burger’s screening process.

On the phone- they were asked if they had ever studied Psychology. If they had done two classes or more then they were excluded. They were also asked if they had ever experienced serious trauma. Those who said yes were also excluded.

Describe step two of Burger’s screening process.

In person- People completed questionnaires on anxiety and depression and were interviewed by a clinical psychologist. People were excluded if it was though that they would have a negative reaction to the study.

Give Burger’s 6 ethical safeguards.

1. Shocks stopped at 150V

2. 2 step screening process to eliminate those who may have a negative reaction.

3. Real but mild 15V shock given to participants.

4. Participants debriefed immediately after study.

5. A clinical psychologist observed all trials and could end the trial immediately if anyone became excessively distressed.

6. Participants were given three reminders of their right to withdraw.

Describe Burger’s base condition.

This was a replication of Milgram’s experiment 5 other than the new ethical safeguards.

Describe Burger’s modelled refusal condition.

• The procedure was the same as the base condition with a few exceptions.

• There were two confederates this time though- one was the learner, and the other posed as another participant (teacher 1).

• Teacher 1 was told to begin the procedure, but at 90V he refused to continue.

• The experimentor than asked the real participant to take over.

What was Burger’s finding about whether people would still obey today?

Yes- obedience rates were only slightly lower than Milgram’s findings.

Did Burger find a significant difference between men and women?

No

Was a significant difference found in high vs low ‘empathetic concern’ scores?

No

Defiant participants had significantly higher _______ ___ ________ _______ scores.

Desire for personal control

What percentage of participants carried on despite model refusal?

63.3%

Give Burger’s 4 conclusions from his 2009 controlled observation.

1. Milgram’s findings were not era bound.

2. Lack of empathy does not appear to be a valid explanation for high obedience rates.

3. Desire for personal control does seem to determine the likelihood of defiance.

4. Milgram’s findings are not androcentric.