Contemporary Study: Burger

Aim

(AO1)

To investigate whether Milgram’s findings on obedience were era bound and if personality factors affect obedience

Who were the participants?

(AO1)

29 men and 41 women aged 20-81

Procedure

(AO1)

1. The participants were asked if they had studied psychology, screened for an anxious temperament and took a questionnaire on desire for personal control and empathetic control.

2. Participants were then informed multiple times of their right to withdraw at any point

3. They were then introduced to the confederates and researchers and underwent a bias draw where the participant was the teacher and the confederate was the learner

4. The learner had to recite word pairs and if they got them wrong, the teacher was instructed to shock them with increasing voltages

5. The researcher would prod the teacher e.g. by saying ‘please continue’

6. If the experimenter tan out of prods or if the full 150v shock was delivered, the experiment would stop

7. As soon as the experiment was complete, the participants were informed that the shocks were fake

Findings

(AO1)

• 70% of Participants delivered the 150v the shock

• There was no significant difference between men and women’s obedience

• No significant difference in empathetic concern scores between obedient and disobedient participants

• Defiant participants had slightly higher desire of personal control

Conclusion

(AO1)

• Milgram’s findings on obedience are not era bound nor male bound

• Also lack of empathy is not the reason people followed orders to cause harm

Strength of Burger’s study

(AO3)

I: High population validity

J: Burger’s experiment included 29 men and 41 women aged 20-81 compared to the 40 men aged 20-50 in Milgram’s study.

E: Therefore, the findings on obedience in Burger’s study can be generalised to both males and females of varying ages

Weakness of Burger’s study

(AO3)

I: Low mundane realism

J: The task of delivering electric shocks is unrealistic, unlike being ordered to do your homework.

E: Therefore, the findings on obedience and personality factors from Burger’s study may not be applicable to every day examples of obedience