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Milgram's study of obedience - Coggle Diagram
Milgram's study of obedience
PARTICIPANTS
40 males obtained through a newspaper article, thought they were taking part in in a study of memory and learning
PROCEDURE
pps became the teacher and was shown an electric shock generator (that they thought was connected to the learner). The teacher read a series of word pairs- a word along with four terms- and shocked the learner if they got it wrong, moving up one level each time
15-450 volts:
slight shock
moderate shock
strong shock
very strong shock
intense shock
extreme intensity shock
danger: severe shock
XXX
to make it more believable, the teacher was given a sample shock of 45 volts and the learner had a predetermined set of responses and answers
if the teacher did not want to go on, the experimenter had certain prods:
1- "please go on"
2- "the experiment requires that you continue"
3- "it is absolutely essential that you continue"
4- "you have no other choice, you must go on"
after the experiment, the teacher met the learner in order to reassure them that they were safe and to help reduce tensions
RESULTS
no pps broke off before the 300 level:
300- 5 stopped
315- 4 stopped
330- 2 stopped
345- 1 stopped
360- 1 stopped
375- 1 stopped
450- the last 26 continued till the end
pps showed signs of extreme tension (sweating, trembling etc, 3 of them even had seizures)
CONCLUSIONS
this is a situation that produces extremely strong tendencies to obey and that the situation generates extraordinary tension and emotional strain
EVALUATIONS
METHOD: controls in place, however no independent variable and so cannot fully be classed as an experiment
DATA: quantitative data gives a clear result of how the teachers responded and showed that the majority of them were willing to go all the way
ETHICS: pps did consent to being part of a study but it was not informed as they were deceived, they had the right to withdraw but it wasn't very clear, it was all anonymous but the pps were harmed
VALIDITY: high levels of face validity but lacked ecological validity
RELIABILITY: highly replicable study
SAMPLE: reflected Nazi soldiers however then andro and ethnocentric
INDIVIDUAL/SITUATIONAL: both- individual as some stopped at different times but also situational as the level of authority led to pps obeying against their will
FREEWILL/DETERMINISM: freewill as they chose when to stop but also determined due to the situation they were in
USEFULNESS: