Milgram’s study: obedience

Aim:
To see how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved…

harming another person

Procedure:
40 males, paid $4.50 even if they quit.
3 roles: teacher, learner, experimenter
2 confederates, 1 naïve ppt. - always teacher
Learner tested on ability to remember word pairs, if wrong, teacher shocks. 15v to 450v in 15v increments.
Learner gave mainly wrong answers.
At 300v, learner started…
after 315v, - silence

pounding the walls and didn't answer

If ppt asked to stop, experimenter repeated prods:

it is absolutely essential that you continue, you have no other choice, you must go on

Findings:
100% went up to 300v
65% went up to 450v despite…

the xxx warning

Conclusion:
Most of us will obey an instruction, even if it means…

harming another person in the process

Proximity (teacher and learner) - both in same room.
In extreme variation: teacher forces learners hand on shock plate
Obedience levels fell to ..%, in extreme, …% as teacher experiences…

40%, 30%, learners anguish more directly

Proximity (teacher and experimenter)
Experimenter left room, gave orders over the phone.
Vast majority defied experimenter, ..% went to max shock level

21%

Location:
Run down office in Bridgeport, Connecticut- no obvious affiliations with Yale.
Obedience levels dropped …, ..% gave max shock

slightly, 48%

Uniform: normal- grey lab coat
variation- experimenter left- inconvenient phone call, experimenter's role taken over by member of public in normal clothes.
Obedience levels dropped to ..%

20%

AO3- Evaluation: strength
Despite lab setting, good ecological validity.
Hofling (1966)- doctor asked nurses over the phone to give potentially dangerous dose of a drug to patients.
Found 21/22 nurses followed unjust orders.
Therefore, despite Milgram's lab setting, can be… providing good…

generalised to real life settings, external validity

AO3- Evaluation: strength
Milgram's findings have temporal validity
Burger (2009) found levels of obedience almost identical to those Milgram found 46 years earlier.
This shows we still obey orders from authority.
Therefore, Milgram's findings still hold…

relevance and validity in a modern society.

AO3- Evaluation: strength
Supporting research for effect of situational variables on obedience.
Bickman (1974)- 3 confederates in 3 outfits- suit, milkman, security.
Asked public to do things like pick up litter.
People twice as likely to obey security guard uniform rather than suit.
Therefore, supports Milgram's conclusions + provides…

validity to uniform being a situational factor for obedience

AO3- Evaluation: limitation
Research lacks internal validity
Orne + Holland (1968)- argued ppts didn't believe shocks were real.
Perry (2013)-many doubted shocks
Murata divided ppts into doubters and believers.
Believers more likely to disobey experimenter + give low shocks.
Therefore, findings challenge usefulness of Milgram's study as…

people more likely to disobey authority if they believe actions lead to harm