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Milgrams Study - obedience to authority - electric shock (Procedure (told…
Milgrams Study - obedience to authority - electric shock
Procedure
told the experiment was on the effect of punishment on learning
40 male volunteers
Ppts ordered to administer shocks to a confederate.
They were encouraged togive the shocks by a man in a lab coat
Findings
65% went on to administer a lethal 450V shock
Conclusion
people would obey demands when they were morally wrong
If they were with an authority figure
Evaluation
Ethical issues
Right to withdraw
‘prods’ from experimenter made some people feel that they had no choice but to carry on
Physical and psychological harm
Milgram said he didn’t know such high levels of distress would be caused
Deception
Ppts told it was to see the effect of punishment on learning
ppts believed they were harming someone with the electric
shocks
Strengths
idea of conforming to an authority figure is supported
Hofling et al
Milgrams concept can be proven to be ecologically valid
This shows that obedience does occur in real life settings
Order was against hospital regulations but 95% nurses did as requested
Nurses phoned by ‘Dr Smith’ and asked to give 20mg of an unknown drug to patients
High internal validity
Repeated several times with similar results
distress was shown due to demands to be obedient by authority figure