Milgram's Obedience Study Flashcards

Flashcards based on lecture notes about Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment.

What was the aim of Milgram's (1963) obedience study?

To investigate the extent to which people obey an authoritative figure, even if it involves harming another person.

How many participants were there in Milgram's original study, and what were their characteristics?

40 men aged between 20-50 years old, with a range of jobs, from unskilled to professional, recruited through volunteer sampling in New Haven, USA.

What was the methodology used in Milgram's original obedience study?

Laboratory experiment at the Interaction Laboratory, Yale University, using structured observation.

Describe the procedure of Milgram's obedience experiment.

Participants were assigned the role of 'teacher' and instructed to administer electric shocks to a 'learner' (confederate) for incorrect answers, increasing the voltage with each mistake. The experimenter provided verbal prods to encourage continuation, even when the learner expressed pain or stopped responding.

What percentage of participants in Milgram's original study continued to administer shocks up to 450 volts?

65%

What were some of the qualitative data observations from Milgram's study?

Participants showed signs of extreme tension, such as sweating, trembling, stuttering, biting their lips, groaning, and digging their fingernails into their hands; some even had uncontrollable seizures.

What conclusions did Milgram draw from his obedience study?

The study provides supporting evidence for Agency Theory, demonstrating how an ordinary participant in the agentic state will follow the orders of an authority figure to harm another human being.

What is one limitation related to generalizability regarding Milgram's sample?

The study has an androcentric and ethnocentric sample of 40 men aged 20-50 years old from an individualistic country (USA) which is not reflective of obedience in females or different collectivist countries.

What is a strength of Milgram's study regarding reliability?

The laboratory method is standardized with the same verbal prods and a standardized script read aloud by the experimenter.

How can Milgram's Agency Theory, supported by the study, be applied in real-world scenarios?

It is used to explain human behavior during WW2 where soldiers in the agentic state obeyed orders from authority figures to harm other human beings.

What is a limitation of Milgram's study regarding ecological validity?

Low mundane realism of the task: 'electrocuting a learner for an incorrect word pair recall' is an artificial task and the laboratory environment is not reflective of everyday life, therefore findings cannot be applied to real life scenarios.

How was a lack of fully informed consent an ethical issue in Milgram's study?

Participants were deceived and told the study was about ‘memory and learning’ not obedience, BUT this was necessary to avoid demand characteristics.

How did Milgram address deception in his study after the experiment concluded?

All participants were debriefed, and assured that their behaviour was entirely normal, and also sent a follow-up questionnaire. 84% reported that they felt glad to have participated.

How does standardization strengthen the study's reliability?

For example, the same procedure was used assigning ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ roles by drawing straws and when using word-pair exercises, with inaccurate recall resulting in an electric shock from 15V-450V.

What ethical guideline did Milgram breach, and why?

BPS ethical guideline of deception has not been abided to since participants were deceived about the true nature of the study to avoid demand characteristics.

What real-world applications can stem from an understanding of obedience to authority?

That authority figures should wear symbols of authority (uniforms) and justify their authority with reference to a “greater good” to help obedience in settings like schools, workplaces and prisons.