Social Psychology and Milgram's Study Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core definitions, study details, key assumptions, roles, and methodological concepts from Milgram's study on obedience.

Social Psychology Assumption 1

Our behaviour, cognitions, and emotions can be influenced by the actual, implied, or imagined presence of others.

Social Psychology Assumption 2

All of our behaviour, cognitions, and emotions can be influenced by social contexts, social environments, and groups.

Obedience

Following direct orders from someone seen as an authority figure.

Banality of Evil

A concept described by political theorist Hannah Arendt during Adolf Eichmann's $1961$ trial, referring to the idea of an ordinary person carrying out harmful acts while just following orders.

Authority

A person or organisation in a position of power who can give orders and requires obedience.

Individual-Situational Debate

The debate about the relative influence or interaction of a person's unique physiology or personality (individual) and factors in the environment (situational) on thinking and behaviour.

Aim of Milgram's Study

To measure the extent of obedience when individuals are instructed by an authority figure to inflict physical punishment on a stranger.

Sample (Milgram's Study)

$40$ male volunteers aged $20$ to $50$ recruited from New Haven, USA via newspaper ads and mail, paid \\text{\\$}4.50$$ for participating.

Teacher (Milgram's Study)

The role filled by the naive participant, whose job was to read word-pairs and administer increasingly high electric shocks for incorrect answers.

Learner (Milgram's Study)

The confederate or victim, played by a $47$-year-old Irish-American accountant, who was strapped into an electric chair and pretended to receive shocks.

Experimenter (Milgram's Study)

The authority figure present in the Yale University laboratory, played by a male high school teacher wearing a lab coat.

Obedient Participant (Operational Definition)

A participant in Milgram's study who administered the maximum shock level of $450\,\text{V}$.

Defiant Participant (Operational Definition)

A participant in Milgram's study who stopped administering shocks before reaching the maximum $450\,\text{V}$ level.

Experimenter Prods

Standardised verbal prompts used when a participant hesitated, such as 'Please continue', 'The experiment requires that you continue', 'It is absolutely essential that you continue', and 'You have no other choice, you must go on'.

Dehoaxing

The post-study interview and debriefing procedure in which the learner was revealed to be unharmed, aiming to reduce tension and restore participant wellbeing.

Generalisability

How widely findings apply, e.g. to other settings and populations.

Mundane Realism

The extent to which an experimental task resembles real-world everyday situations, which was low in Milgram's study due to the artificial task of shocking a stranger for a memory test.