Milgram

5.0(3)
studied byStudied by 20 people
learnLearn
examPractice Test
spaced repetitionSpaced Repetition
heart puzzleMatch
flashcardsFlashcards
Card Sorting

1/61

flashcard set

Earn XP

Description and Tags

Study Analytics
Name
Mastery
Learn
Test
Matching
Spaced

No study sessions yet.

62 Terms

1
New cards
Social Approach
looks at the role of the social situation and how it affects both behaviors and thought processes
2
New cards
social pressure

(Psychology)
pressure to conform with social standards or norms
3
New cards
obedience

(Psychology)
following the directive of an authority figure
4
New cards
autonomous state

(Psychology)
maintaining a sense of free will
5
New cards
agentic state

(Psychology)
give up free will and become an agent of authority; don’t question the order and believe that the authority figure is responsible

ex | from a young age, people are taught (1) to respect authority and (2) to not hurt people intentionally
6
New cards
the Holocaust

(Background)
Adolf Eichmann, who architected the Holocaust was put on trial, and when questioned as to why he did it, he stated “I was just following orders.” Many other Nazis echoed the same sentiment, and so it was believed that Germans were predisposed to being obedient
7
New cards
Milgram

(Background)
* believed that the rest of the world would be autonomous
* was interested in **destructive obedience** - *following orders that are harmful in nature, and are carried out with the intention that it will destroy something / cause harm*
8
New cards
Aim #1
To investigate how obedient people would be when ordered by an authority figure to cause harm or pain to another person
9
New cards
Aim #2
To see how large of an electric shock a participant would give a helpless man when ordered to do so
10
New cards
Hypothesis #1
To test that obeying orders to kill another human being was a one-off that would never happen again
11
New cards
Hypothesis #2
U.S. citizens would not obey the command to give an electric shock
12
New cards
IV
none
13
New cards
DV
**obedience** - percentage people shocked at each level
14
New cards
Method
* no design because there is no IV
* data collected in observation and interview
15
New cards
shock generator

(Apparatus)
moves up in 15 volt increments, 15 is label ‘slight shock’ and 450 is labeled ‘Danger: Severe shock’
16
New cards
Participants
40 men aged 20 to 50 years old volunteer sampled from New Haven, Connecticut via newspaper ad; paid $4.00 plus $0.50 carfare; 37.5% blue collar, 40% white collar, and 22.5% professionals
17
New cards
Mr. Williams

(Experimenters)
30 year old high school biology teacher acting as the experimenter, wearing a gray coat and horn-rimmed glasses, carrying a clipboard
18
New cards
Mr. Wallace

(Experimenters)
47 year old accountant acting as the learner
19
New cards
Control #1
Everyone is told the same thing at the beginning of the study
20
New cards
Control #2
The experimenter will always give the same prods in the same order
21
New cards
Control #3
Mr. Wallace will always give the same complaints at the same places throughout the study
22
New cards
Control #4
The word pairs will always be given the same way in the same order
23
New cards
Step 1

(Procedure)
When the teacher enters the room, the experimenter will explain the study to both the teacher and the learner, and the participant will be deceived into thinking it’s about using physical punishment to improve learning and memory
24
New cards
Step 2

(Procedure)
To pick roles, two slips of paper that both say “teacher,” are placed into a hat. Mr. Wallace always goes first, and he lies and says “learner” every time
25
New cards
Step 3

(Procedure)
The experimenter will take the teacher and learner into the secondary room where the shock will be received
26
New cards
Step 4

(Procedure)
The teacher is quickly hooked up to the machine and given a 45 volt shock to show the machine works, and then the machine is turned off
27
New cards
Step 5

(Procedure)
Mr. Wallace is hooked up to the generator and the experiment begins
28
New cards
Step 6

(Procedure)
The teacher will read a pair of words and the learner is supposed to push a button for the first word that was given in the list. If Mr. Wallace gets it right, they move on to the next pair of words. If he gets it wrong, he will be shocked with 15 volts, and every wrong answer after will increase the shock by another 15 volts
29
New cards
Step 7

(Procedure)
At certain predetermined points, Mr. Wallace will complain. At 75 volts, he says “Hey, this hurts.” At 300 volts, he pounds on the door and says he wants out of there
30
New cards
Step 8

(Procedure)
If at any point the experimenter thinks the teacher won’t shock Mr. Wallace, he will give a prod
31
New cards
Prod 1
Please go on
32
New cards
Prod 2
The experiment requires that you continue
33
New cards
Prod 3
It is absolutely essential that you go on
34
New cards
Prod 4
You have no choice, you must go on
35
New cards
Step 9

(Procedure)
The experiment ends if they reach 450 volts or the teacher receives all 4 prods and pauses a 5th time
36
New cards
Step 10

(Procedure)
The participant will complete an interview with Milgram, in which he asks how painful they think the last few shocks were on a scale of 0 to 14
37
New cards
Step 11

(Procedure)
Participants are debriefed and told the true purpose
38
New cards
qualitative data
* nonverbal - looks, sweating, agitation, etc.
* quotes during experiment
* interviews
39
New cards
quantitative data
shock levels
40
New cards
Finding #1
All 40 participants shocked someone up to 285 volts. 5 people stop at 300 volts, 4 people at 315, 2 people at 330, 1 person at 345, 1 person at 360 and 1 person at 375. 26 people made it to 450 volts
41
New cards
Finding #2
Milgram observed that participants were distressed in that they exhibited nervous behavior such as sweating and trembling. 3 people got seizures, 1 of which was severe
42
New cards
Finding #3
For the interviews, Milgram found that most people were happy they participated in the experiment, and they believed that it was a real situation. The average pain estimate was 13.42
43
New cards
Finding #4
Milgram was surprised to learn that obedience is strong and that the procedure caused high tension in the participants
44
New cards
Conclusion #1
The Germans are no different from those in other countries
45
New cards
Conclusion #2
Although people obeyed, they weren’t happy doing it
46
New cards
Conclusion #3
People were more obedient than the survey showed
47
New cards
Conclusion #4
This supports the situational hypothesis and eliminates the individual one
48
New cards
Conclusion #5
The situation triggered a conflict between obeying orders and not harming others
49
New cards
Ethics
**Informed consent** was gained but with use of deception. **Confidentiality** was maintained. **Protection from harm** was violated in the psychological and emotional stress of participants, and the removal of the right to withdraw. **Debriefing** did occur, and Milgram did a follow-up 6 months after to assess the psychological states of participants.
50
New cards
Strength #1
Both types of data were collected, allowing for statistical comparison and explanation behind results
51
New cards
Strength #2
The sample is large and diverse in terms of profession, allowing for generalization
52
New cards
Strength #3
The use of stooges means that Milgram doesn’t have to be in the room during the experiment, eliminating demand characteristics
53
New cards
Strength #4
The interview at the end allows Milgram to assess the thoughts participants had during the experiment
54
New cards
Weakness #1
The sample is only male, making generalization difficult
55
New cards
Weakness #2
Participants are being paid, so they may feel more pressure to finish out the experiment, and they are only from one city, creating geographical bias
56
New cards
Weakness #3
Participants were psychologically and emotionally tortured, which is an extreme violation of protection from harm
57
New cards
Individual v. Situational

(issues & debates)
Since the sample has varying professions, the individual hypothesis is eliminated, and obedience is caused by being placed in a situation with orders being given
58
New cards
Application

(issues & debates)
* to understanding destructive obedience
* to explaining genocide
59
New cards
Rule #1 for Obedience
Authority figure must be seen as legitimate and must be close

*Mr. Williams wore glasses and lab coat and is near participant when giving prods*
60
New cards
Rule #2 for Obedience
Authority figure must be supported by prestigious institution

*Yale University*
61
New cards
Rule #3 for Obedience
The victim is depersonalized and distanced

*Mr. Wallace is referred to as “the learner” and is put behind a wall*
62
New cards
Rule #4 for Obedience
No role models of defiance

*It’s just the experimenter and participant in the room*