Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Milgram's Shock Study (1963) (Procedure: (Sample of 40 men answered a…
Milgram's Shock Study (1963)
Aim:
To investigate obedience to an authority figure
Evaluation:
Ethical
Strengths
Debrief
This was very thorough
84%
of ptps said they were glad they were pleased to have taken part
Weaknesses
Informed consent
Ptps did not understand the full aims of the study before taking part
Deception
Believed they were actually shocking human
When they were not
Believed the aim was to study the affect of pain on learning
Not the true aim of obedience to authority
Right to withdraw
Experimenter made it difficult for them to leave
With the prompts used
Protection from harm
Were put under stress
One ptp had a seizure
Many showed clear signs of distress
Methodology
Strengths
Laboratory experiment
Good control on extraneous variables
Easy to establish cause and effect
Of the authority figure and obedience levels
Generalisable
Similar results found
Females
Other countries
External validity
There are ppl in authority figures
And are obeyed by others
Weaknesses
Demand characteristics
Did the tape sound realistic to ptps?
Responses became awkward if ptps asked q's outside of teacher role
Displays of laughing
Could be from nerves
Would not display natural b/h
Low ecological validity
Findings are difficult to apply to irl
Do not reflect irl obedience
Conclusion:
Ppl are surprisingly obedient to authority
Even when being told to inflict pain for no good reason and go against their moral code
Agency theory appears to work in this scenario
Results:
Signs of extreme tension in most ptps
One had a seizure
All ptps went up to 300 V
14 defied the experimenter after this point
Remained
autonomous
= Individual feels a sense of responsibility for their own actions
26 obeyed to the end and gave 450 V
Displaying
agentic shift
= The movement from autonomous to
agentic
state
= a mental state where we feel
no personal responsibility
for our b/h
Bc we believe ourselves to be acting for an
authority figure
I.e. as their
agent
Procedure:
Lab
experiment
Sample of 40 men answered a newspaper ad
Volunteers
Paid $4.50 for turning up
IV: Prompts from experimenter
DV: How far in volts ptps went
Experimenter wore grey lab coat
Accent his legitimate authority
Volts went up in 15 volt increments
To a maximum of 450 volts
Creating a
gradual commitment
Learner gave predetermined recorder responses
Gradually increasing in panic
Set-up:
Experimenter has 4 prompts to use
If teacher is reluctant to continue
'Please continue' 'It is important for the experiment that you continue'
Naive ptps drew lots to be the teacher or learner
Fixed to always become teacher
Teacher has to read one half of word pair
Learner supplies other half
Once in a while the learner gets it wrong
Is shocked
Confederate learner appears increasingly distressed
While pretending to be shocked