Milgram (1963) - Obedience
Aim - To investigate how obedient people can be to orders from an authority figure that would result in the harm of someone else.
Background
Milgram was naturally interested in the concept of destructive obedience due to the events in Nazi Germany, where the obedience of many was exhibited, causing the harm of many Jews.
Many Nazi soldiers, as well as citizens, were tried as 'War Criminals', however, they argued that they were just following orders.
Dispositional argument: German soldiers possessed some defective personal traits which made such extreme levels of obedience possible
Situational argument: Milgram suggested that people who were in similar situations would harm or even kill human beings under the orders of an authority figure
Method
The study is best described as a controlled observation.
Levels of obedience were measured. This was operationalised as the maximum voltage given in response to the orders
Sample
A newspaper article was used to recruit 40 men between ages 20 and 50 years old. This means that it was a volunteer sample.
It composed of men who lived in the New Haven area of the United States.
The men came from a range of different backgrounds and professions; from 'unskilled workers' to white collar workers as well as professionals.
Procedure
Each participant was promised $4.50 for taking part in the study
The procedure took place in a modern library at Yale University. The location was chosen in order to make the procedure seem legitimate - to avoid demand characteristics.
The participants were introduced to another man who they believed was another participant, but was in fact a confederate who worked for Milgram.
The men were told that they were either going to be a ' teacher or a learner', based on what piece of paper they would draw from a hat, but the pieces were fixed such that. the real participants were always allocated the role of a teacher.
Next, the participant was taken to another room, where the stooge was strapped to what looked like an electric chair. The participant was given control of a shock generator which had ascending levels from "moderate shock" to "XXX"
The participant was told that the shocks were painful but not dangerous. They were seated against the wall so that they could hear but not see the stooge. The stooge did not feel shocked at any point in the procedure but the participants were made to believe that they were able to injure the 'learner'.
The same experimenter was used for every participant. He was a 31-year-old male who wore a technician's coat and had a stern manner througout.
The participant was told to give the 'learner' a memory task in which they had to shock the 'learner' whenever they state the wrong answer. The participant was instructed to raise the voltage by 15V after each error. The stooge was given a planned set of answers and mistakes.
Until 300V was reached, the participant remained silent after every 'shock'. After 'receiving' 300V, they began to pound on the wall in protest to the 'teacher'. After this, the 'learner' made no sound for the rest of the experiment, however, the participant was still told to treat no response as an incorrect answer.
Whenever participants protested at raising the voltage, they were told different phrases to convince them to do so. The procedure was considered complete when the participant refused to give any more punishments, or if they had reached the maximum voltage of 450V.
After this, each participant was interviewed and told about the deception. They were asked to estimate how painful the final shock of 450V was on a scale of 1-10. After this, they were able to meet the stooge/'learner' to ensure that they were unharmed.
Results
Most participants believed that all aspects of the situation were real, including the concept that they were physically harming the 'learner'.
The mean estimate of the pain of the 450V shock was 13.42 out of a maximum of 14. This means that participants were fully aware that they were causing serious pain.
Participants showed extremely high levels of destructive obedience.
All participants gave at least 300V and 65% gave the maximum of 450V.
The mean voltage given by participants was 368V
The qualitative data collected in this study revealed that the participants showed signs of tension during the procedure.
Observers reported signs of nervousness in participants, which increased as they gave more powerful electric shocks.
The participants were also frequently observed to be sweating, shaking and groaning, with 14/40 men showing signs of nervous laughter or smiling.
One participant could not complete the experiment because he went into a violent seizure, presumably because of the high levels of stress he was experiencing.
The verbal prods given by the experimenter were generally successful in convincing the participants to continue, despite of their verbal protests.