Evaluation of Milgram's study

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  • Created by: MollyL20
  • Created on: 26-09-20 11:32
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  • Evaluation of Milgram's variation
    • Research support- Strength
      • Bickman's field experiment (1974)
      • 3 confederates dressed in/as: suit, milkman and a guard's uniform
      • Asked members of public in New York to complete random tasks such as picking up some litter
      • He found that people are twice as likely to obey to the man in the security uniform.
      • Supports Milgram's study as it proves that a difference in uniform can affect to the extent which people obey
    • Lack of internal validity- Weakness
      • Orne and Holland  (1963) said that the participants must have been able to guess that the procedure was fake
      • One of the variations, even Milgram noticed that it was so contrived that some participants may well have worked out that it was fake
      • This is a limitation because it is unclear whether the results are genuine
    • Cross-culture replications- Both
      • A strength is that his finding have been replicated in other cultures
        • Miranda et al (1981) found an obedience rate of over 90% Spanish students. This suggests that Milgram's finding are generalisable across other cultures
      • However, Smith and Bond (1998) made the point that most replications have taken place in the Western culture/ developed societys
        • Western society's aren't that different to the USA meaning it would be premature to conclude that his findings apply to everywhere
    • Control of variables- Strength
      • A strength of Milgram's variations is that he systematically altered one variable at a time to see what the effect would be
        • All of the other procedures and variables were kept the same as the study was replicated over and over again
      • This is a strength as it gives his study more reliability and replicability and it allows for more accurate

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