Milgram's original (1963) study - AO1

Aim

Aimed to investigate the extent to which individuals would obey an authoritative figure, even when it means causing harm to others

Procedure

the experimenter ‘randomly’ allocated roles to 2 people, the participant always got the role of the teacher, whilst the confederate always got the role of the Learner. The experimenter instructed the Teacher to administrate shocks (increasing by 15V each time) when the Learner got an answer wrong. The shock machine ranged from 15V - 450V. The fake pleas of the Learner began after 300V was administered, when participants began to hesitate and protest, the experimentor would give standardised prompts, such as “please continue”.

Sampling

40 men, aged 21-50 years old and all volunteers (via newspaper article, promising $4.50 for their time) from New Haven

Conclusion/ results

100% of participants went up to 300V, mean average of 368V, whilst 65% administered the lethal maximum shock, 450V. Milgram concluded that ordinary people would obey authority, even when it caused a moral strain against their own morals.