Milgram and Kohlberg
- Created by: chlopayne
- Created on: 10-04-19 13:29
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- Milgram and Kohlberg
- Milgram (1963) Behavioural Study of Obedience
- His interest stemmed from a fascination with Holocaust and Nazi Germany
- Aim - investigate what level of obedience would be shown when participants were told by an authority figure to electric shock someone.
- How was obedience measured?
- Volunteers were asked to administer electric shock to another person.
- How far up the scale of shocks they're willing to go.
- Some volunteers were an accomplice, electric shocks weren't real.
- Some volunteers acted as 'teachers' and saw the 'learners' being strapped.
- Participants?
- 40 males, ages 20-50. New Haven + surrounding. Range of occupations and education.
- Experiment?
- Took place in Psychology Laboratories in Yale.
- They were told the experiment was to investigate the effect of punishment on learning.
- Results?
- Of 40 subjects, all obeyed up to 300 volt - 5 refused to continue after this point.
- 26 continued to the end.
- Many showed signs of nervousness and tension. 3 had 'uncontrollable seizures'.
- Evaluation?
- Internal validity
- Demand characteristic.
- Orne and Holland (1968) claim it lacks internal validity.
- Milgram reported 75% of participants thought the shocks were real.
- Ethical issues
- Baumrind (1964) claimed he caused psychological damage.
- Perry (2012) failed in his duty of care of participants.
- Milgram argues that 84% of participants said they are glad they took part.
- Internal validity
- Kohlberg (1968) The Child as a Moral Philopsopher
- Kohlberg was influenced by Piaget and believed children cognitively develop trough stages. He disagrees that it's complete by adolescence.
- Stages of development: As you develop cognitively and develop moral reasoning, you move through the stages.
- Aim - To show how young adolescents develop into young adulthood, and how they move through the stages of moral development. To asses whether this is cross-cultural.
- Research method?
- Longitudinal study over 12 years.
- Self-report - hypothetical moral dilemmas.
- 2 hour interview to answer 10 dilemmas.
- Sample?
- 75 American boys, aged 10-16.
- Studied at 3 year intervals until ages 22-28.
- Also studied in UK, Canada, Taiwan Mexico and Turkey.
- Findings?
- Boys in the research demonstrated each stage of moral reasoning and how values change as they progress through the stages.
- About 50% of the 6 stages, participants thinking was at a single stage, regardless of the dilemma.
- `Participants showed progress with increased age.
- Not all participants progressed through all stages.
- Participants progressed through the stages one at a timed in the same order.
- Cross-cultural findings
- Mexico and Taiwan development was slower.
- At age 16, stage 5 thinking was more important in the US than Mexico or Taiwan.
- In different cultures, middle class children were more advanced in moral judgement.
- No differences amongst religious and no-religious boys.
- Evaluation?
- Sampling
- Male morality may be different to female morality.
- Gender-biased.
- External validity
- Gillian (1982) - not based on real life decision - hypothetical scenarios.
- Social desirability bias
- Sampling
- Milgram (1963) Behavioural Study of Obedience
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