Contemporary study - Burger 2009

What is locus of control?

• How much control a person feels they have over their own behaviour.

• It is measured along a dimension of ‘high internal’ to ‘high external’

What is internal locus of control?

• Internal people believe they are responsible for their own behaviour - and that success or failure is down to them.

What is external locus of control?

• External people believe that their behaviour and actions are down to external forces such as luck and chance.

• They are not responsible for their behaviour.

Are internal or externals more likely to be obedient?

• Externals are more likely to be obedient.

• Because they do not feel responsible for their behaviour.

What were the aims of Burgers study?

• To investigate if the same results as Milgram’s 1963 study re-occur when the study is replicated with modern Pp in 2009.

• To investigate if personality variables like empathy and locus of control influence obedience.

He wanted to compare results to variation 5 of Milgram’s study, what was this variation?

• Variation 5 is the empathy variation.

• Milgram changed the script so that Mr Wallace mentioned a heart condition at the start, and at 150v he started complaining about chest pains.

Who were the participants?

• 70 Pp - 29 men 41 women

• Aged 20-81

• All American

• 54% white people

• Randomly put into the two conditions.

• Volunteer sample

What was the screening procedure used?

• He dropped volunteers who had heard of Milgram’s original experiment, attended more that 2 psychology classes, who had anxiety or drug dependency.

• They did questionnaires and were interviewed by a clinical psychologist.

• They were required to complete further psychometric tests to make sure they were psychologically strong enough.

How did the researcher ensure credibility of the experiment - what did they expose real Pp to and what was said to them?

• He shown the Pp the shock generator and even physically shocked them to make them think it was ‘real.’

• The learner indicates a slight heart condition but the experimenter replies that the shocks are not harmful.

What was the max voltage level in this study, and why did Burger not replicate this part of Milgram’s study?

• Max was 150v

• He did not replicate going past 150v because that was said to be the point of no return.

• This made it more ethical.

Describe the procedure of the ‘modal refusal condition’

• A second confederate pretends to be a second teacher.

• They deliver the shocks with the naïve Pp watching.

• At 90v the confederate turns to the Pp and says ‘I don’t know about this’

• He refuses to go on and the experimenter tells the naïve Pp to take over delivering the shocks.

How many Pp went to the max 150v in the modal refusal condition?

• 63.3%

What were the results in the baseline condition?

• Stopped at 150v or sooner - 30%

• Continuing past 150v - 70%

Did Burger find a difference in the obedience levels of men and women?

• No difference

What did Burger find regarding empathy and obedience?

• There was no correlation between empathy and obedience.

What did he find regarding locus of control and obedience?

• Those who stopped at 150v or sooner had a significantly higher locus of control.

• Pp with an internal locus of control shown more reluctance, those with external locus of control were reluctant later on into the study.

Overall what did Burger conclude about how obedience levels have changed over time?

• Burger concluded that Milgram’s results still stand half a century later.

• People are still influenced by situational factors to obey an authority figure, even if it goes against their morals.

What are the key evaluation points for generalisability?

A01

• 29 men 41 women

• Aged 20-81

• All American

• 54% white people

• Screening process excluded those who knew about Milgram’s study and those who attended more than 2 psychology classes.

A03

• Population validity is good as there is a range of age and it consists of both genders.

• Better population validity than Milgram

• Excluded those who knew about Milgram’s study and attended more than 2 psychology classes - reduces demand characteristics.

• Ethnocentric research, culture bias - meaning behaviour is not representative of other places

• Obedience cannot be explained in wider populations.

What are the key evaluation points for reliability?

A01

• Burger shown all Pp that the shocks were real by physically shocking them before the study.

• Same prompts for all Pp.

• All Pp went through the screening process.

• Study was filmed

A03

• Good external reliability because it is already a replication and can be replicated due to standardised procedures.

• Allows it to generate theory

• By filming, Burger adds to the inter-rater reliability because other people can view Pp behaviour and judge obedience for themselves.

• Removes experimenter bias.

What are they key evaluation points for application?

• Poor mundane realism - unusual task as people wouldn’t usually shock people.

• Cant explain obedience in real world scenarios.

• Poor ecological validity - because it was a lab experiment meaning the setting was artificial and not in the natural world.

• People obeying authoritative figures can be explained.

• Shows that authority figures in society need to be legitimate

• Authority figures should wear symbols of authority and justify their authority with reference to a ‘greater good.’

• Testing people for a locus of control might identify those most likely to be disobedient.

• People with a strong need to be in control are less likely to take orders.

• Fosters psychological knowledge in society.

What are the key evaluation points for validity?

• Poor external validity

• Not in a natural setting and the task is unusual therefore it lacks mundane realism and ecological validity.

• Good internal validity because extraneous variables would have been reduced due to it being in a lab/controlled setting.

• Screening process improved internal validity

• As he dropped those who knew about Milgram’s study and those who went to more than 2 psychology classes.

• Reduces demand characteristics - increases internal validity.

• Stopping at 150v may be invalid - as Pp may have dropped out later.

• It is a huge assumption - lowers internal validity.

What are the key evaluation points for ethics?

• Deception was broken as they thought they were real shocks

• This is justified as if they knew they were fake It would cause poor internal validity.