obedience- milgram 1963

What is obedience?

Obedience is a form of social influence where an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority with the power to punish when they disobey. Milgram showed how people obey authority to commit harm.

What is milgram’s classic study on obedience?

-milgram wanted to test the hypothesis ‘Germans are different’, based on atrocities committed during WW2

-he recruited 40 male participants, for a study on ‘how does punishment affect learning’ at Yale university

-two confederates, experimenter and the learner

-participant drew up lots, always teacher. Told to give increasingly strong electric shock for each question learner answered incorrectly.

-learner in other room gave mostly wrong answers, got fake shocks in silence until 300 volts then pounded on wall, no response to next question. Repeated at 315 volts then silence

-if teacher asked to stop, experiments had set of prods to respond with

-65% went to 450, max volts, all went to 300 volts, only 12.5% stopped at 300

What are the positives of milgram’s research?

-milgram responded to orne and Holland, proved the experiment did have internal validity as film evidence shows distress, and in a follow up questionnaire only a small minority reported doubts

-Sheridan and king showed people still obey even when they do believe, ordered people to give real electric shocks to puppy. 54% males went to max, 100% females

-field experiments in real settings prove, nurses phoned by doctor to go against regulations and give 20mg drug to patient, 21/22 obeyed

-ethical issues were necessary as deception was essential and in debrief 83.7% were happy to have taken part

What are the negatives of milgram’s research?

-orne and Holland claimed the research lacked experimental realism, was not believable so participants knew it was fake so lacked internal validity. Germany may be due to character failings

-milgram failed to draw parallels between research and nazi germany, cannot claim Americans would behave in same way. Mandel said it is unfair. Milgram showed that proximity decreases obedience however German soldiers ordered to shoot Jews in close proximity only 12/500 declined

-ethical issues, lied about study. Also hard to withdraw from experiment as experimenter pressured. Participants also felt stressed and anxious.