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Milgram's Study on Obedience - Coggle Diagram
Milgram's Study on Obedience
Stanley Milgram (1963)
Yale University - America
Aim
Establish a baseline measure of how obedient + naive participants would have been when ordered to commit actions.
Sample
males aged 20-50, paid $4 for 'memory' study
40 men from Newhaven
Method
Naive ppt was chosen as 'teacher' in rigged draw
'Learner/Experimenter' were confederates.
Learner was strapped to chair with electrodes in adjacent room
Samples a 45v shock
Switches went from 15v-450v
Teacher gives 'learner' shocks for wrong answer, shock intensity increases each time.
If teacher was unwilling to carry on, they were urged using prompts:
"Please continue"
"The experiment requires you to continue"
"It is absolutely essential that you must continue"
"You have no other choice; you must go on"
Results
Estimate that >3% would go up to 450v
270v heard learner screaming
65% gave maximum shock (26/40)
100% went to 300v
Ppts did exp. harm
Pleading to stop, trembling, stuttering, bit lips, dug nail into skin and one ppt convulsed.
Agency Theory
Agentic Shift
Autonomous State - behvaviour is self-directed, we choose how to behave.
Agentic State - we become agents of authority and carry out their actions despite our morals.
Change of location variation
Aim
To see whether obedience would decrease if conducted in less prestigious setting.
Procedure
Conducted in an office block away from Uni
Experimenter in this variation wasn't wearing labcoat
Same method as original e.g. rigged draw
Findings
Obedience dropped to 47.5% compared to original 65%
Obedience DOES drop in less prestigious environment
Telephone instructions
Aim
To see effects on obedience when the experimenter gives instructions from a distance
Procedure
The ppt was given same instructions however the experimenter only spoke through telephone
Findings
Obedience fell to 22.5% and many ppts cheated and missed out shock/gave less voltage than ordered
Less likely to take orders over the phone. Physical presence was a force when it come to obedience due to not increasing shocks
Ordinary man gives orders
Aim
To see if obedience is affected when an ordinary person without professional status
Procedure
Same study in the same way but then experimenter is 'called away'
Accomplice in the room suggests a new way of doing the study, going up the shock levels one at a time in response to wrong answers
Findings
20% administered the maximum shock
Ppt less likely to take orders from ordinary person who didn't announce himself as a professional.
Obedience
Social influence where someone acts in response to direct order from a perceived authority.