Milgram's Experiment

Procedure (AO1)

40 American men volunteered, supposedly on memory

When the participant arrived they were introduced to a confederate, and Milgram drew lots to see who would be the Teacher and Learner

But the confederate was fixed to be the teacher

There was also an Experimenter who was a confederate

The teacher was then given a small eclectic shock to see how the learner would feel

The study aimed to assess obedience where an authoritative figure (experimenter) ordered the participant (teacher) to electrocute a learner if they give the wrong answer

Findings (AO1)

Every participant delivered shocks up to 300 volts, and 65% delivered the 450 volts

Milgram collected qualitative data and participants (teachers) showed distress, tension and sweat

Conclusions (AO1)

American participants were willing to obey orders even if they might harm another person in front of authority and ‘German people are not different’

Research Support (Strength) (AO3)

Milgram’s findings were replicated in a French documentary

The participants believed they ere part contestants in a pilot episode for a new show

They were paid to give (fake) electric shocks to the other participants (confederates) in front of an audience

80% of participants gave maximum shocks of 460 volts to an apparently unconscious man

They showed similar behaviours to milgram's participants e.g. sweating

This support milgram’s findings of obedience

Low Internal Validity (Limitation) (AO3)

Milgram’s procedure may have not been testing what it intended to test

Because 75% of participants behaved as they did as they didn't believe in the set up, so they were play acting

Gina Perry (2013) listened to tapes of Milgram and reported that half of them believed the shocks were real

So participants may have been reacting to Demand Characteristics

Highly Controlled (Strength) (AO3)

The experiment had highly controlled variables as all participants went through the same procedure

This produced objective data and minimised the effect of any other variables

Which made the experiment replicable to increase validity

Ethical Issues (Limitation) (AO3)

Participants were deceived as they thought the lots were random

And they thought the schools were real

This could cause serious consequences for participants and researchers

This could be prevented by Milgram debriefing participants