3. Milgrams Research- Obedience Baseline

What is obedience?

Obedience is a type of social influence where someone behaves a certain way in response to direct orders from a figure of authority.

Procedure of Milgram’s Research

• 40 American male volunteers

• Yale University

• PP were told it is about learning and memory

• Each pp was assigned a role of teacher and confederate a role of learner

• The learner was strapped to a chair in another room

• The teacher had to read word pairs to the learner

• The learner gave pre-recorded answers.

• Each time learner makes mistake, teacher delivers electric shock (increased by 15V, from 15V to 450V)

• The learner responded with screams, loud noises and silence when reached 315V

• If teacher hesitated, the experimenter used standardised prods ( the experiment requires you to continue)

• The experiment ends when the teacher either Reached 450V or refused to continue

Findings of Milgram’s Research

100%-continued to deliver electric shocks up to 300V

65%- continued to the highest level of 450V

Qualitative data(observing pp)- extreme tension and distress, swearing, etc

Conclusion of Milgram’s Research

People are highly obedient to authority, even when obeying causes harm.

Strengths of Milgram’s Research

Methodology used

Ev: Lab based method, high levels of control and the room it was taking place in. Ex: Reduces a change of extraneous variables (impact of other people’s preferences, affecting the results), meaning that pp actions are more genuine. L: High internal validity, accurate measurement of obedience.

Support evidence

Ev: French documentary recreated the experiment in front of a live studio audience, 80% of pp were fully obedient, going up to 460V. Ex: Supports Milgram, shows that original findings were not unique and can be replicated in similar scenario, but with a different settings and people. L: Increases reliability, consistency, as consistent across multiple studies outside of Milgram.

Weaknesses of Milgram’s research

Demand Characteristics

Ev: During the debriefing interview, around 75% of pp claimed that they believed the electric shock were real, manning 25% didn’t fully believe that the shocks were genuine. Ex: If some pp didn’t believe they were real, they just continued delivering them, as they believed no real harm was caused. So pp obedience may have been influenced by pp guessing the aim or responding in a way they thought was expected. L: Reduces internal validity, as becomes unclear whether obedience was due to legitimacy if authority or demand characteristics.

Bias sampling method

Ev: Involved 40 American white male volunteers, recruited through newspaper advertisements. Ex: Sample lacks diversity in gender, ethnicity and volunteers can be more extroverted than the general population. So behaviour observed may not reflect how obedience operates in wider population. L: Low population validity, can’t be generalised beyond American white males, weakling conclusion as universal human behaviour.