Milgram 1963

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  • Created by: Beth98888
  • Created on: 04-01-21 16:33
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  • Milgram
    • Background
      • German officers in the trials defended themselves against being held responsible for the Holocaust by saying they were just following orders.
        • Germans were more obedient to authority rather than other cultures (Germans are different hypothesis) and that explained the systematic genocide of the Jews.
    • Aim
      • Investigate the level of obedience of men from the US in response to the orders by an authority figure.
        • To test the dispositional hypothesis of obedience, Milgram sampled men from the US seen as culture of freedom of speech, if high levels of obedience occured it would be a situtational factor not cultural.
    • Method/Sample
      • Self - selecting (an advert was posted in a local newspaper asking for volunteers for a study on memory and learning.)
        • 40 New Haven men between 20 - 50 years, from a variety of occupations
          • Laboratory study (no IV) covert, non - P's controlled observation
            • Observed P's responses to the experimenter's orders through a one - way mirror in the lab.
    • Procedure
      • 1. Met the experiimenter who wore a technican's coat and is a confederate who explains the study is on punishment and learning.
        • 2. Fixed draw of role of teacher or learner, real P was always teacher and the confederate learner.
        • 3. 45V shock given to the teacher to demonstrate intensity  so they believe they are harmful.(deception)
          • 4. Learner is strapped into a chair with electrodes attached.
            • 5. The teacher is then taken to another room with a shock generator, which is a prop (deception) and told about the word pair task, if their response is incorrect they must shock them.
              • 6. If the P stopped or questioned whether to continue, the experimenter used prompts, "Please continue" and "The experiment requires you to continue"
                • 7. When the P questioned the safety of the procedure, the experimenter assured them that, although the shocks were painful, there would be no permanent tissue damage.
                  • 8. The learner banged on the wall at 300v and 315 v and then stopped responding. The t eacher was told to treat a no reply as a wrong answer.
                    • Response latency, and duration of button press recorded and intensity of voltage administered was observed. and behavioural responses.
    • Findings
      • 65% of Ps continued to the max shock of 450 V
        • No Ps stopped before 300 V
        • Post - experiment interview, P believed that the mean level of pain experiences ws 13.42/14
          • Knew they were painful but continued.
      • Qualitative data
        • 3 people had seizures
          • 14 people had nervous laughing fits
    • Conclusion
      • People obey because certain situational factors lead them to suspect their sense of freedom/choice and become an agent of an authority figure and the presigious setting, Yale
      • Reinforces the legtimacy if the authoirty fiture as an expert in sciene and the importance of the task to further scientific knowledge.

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