milgrams study into obedience

aim:

to investigate under what conditions people would obey an authority figure

historical context:

study took place after ww2

his sisters were in a concentration camp

he wanted to understand the nazis and how ordinary people because involved in mass murder (the holocaust)

when and where did the study take place?

yale university 1962

ppts in the study:

ppts were selected by newspaper advertising (volunteer)

40 males, aged between 20-50

ppts were told they were taking part in a memory experiment

ppts were told roles were randomly picked, however every time ppt would be ‘teacher’ , confederate ‘learner’

set up of the study:

experimenter and teacher were in a room together. teacher believed it was a memory experiment

learner in a separate room, couldn’t see each other. ‘attached’ to a shock machine. mentions he has a heart condition

shock machine: 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 volts (XXX)

procedure:

teacher is told to administer a shock every time the learner makes a mistake, increasing level of shock each time

if teacher refused to administer a shock, they were prompted to continue by the experimenter (authority figure)

findings:

65% continued to 450 volts

all ppts reached 300 volts