Milgram 1963

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Milgram's study of obedience (1963)
- Aim: the aim of the study was to see the circumstances under which people might be induced to act against their consciences by inflicting harm on other people.
the learner sitting around the room received his fake electric shocks in silence until they reached 300volts. at this point he pounded on the wall and gave no response to the next question. this was repeated at 315 volts. if the 'teacher' asked to stop he was persuaded to carry on by the researcher.
- Method: Milgram used 40 male participants by advertising for volunteers. Milgram also uses confederates amongst his real participants. The participants was always the 'teacher' and was told that he had to increasingly administer strong electric shocks to the learner every time he answered a question wrong.
  - Milgram's study of obedience (1963)
    - Aim: the aim of the study was to see the circumstances under which people might be induced to act against their consciences by inflicting harm on other people.
  - Conclusions: these findings demonstrate that ordinary people are astonishingly obedient to authority, even when asked to behave in an inhume manner. this suggests that it is not evil who commit atrocities but ordinary people who are just obeying orders.
evaluations points
- ethnocentric (only men used)
- small sample used
ethical issues of deception
- evaluations points
  - ethnocentric (only men used)
  - small sample used
high reliability

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