Milgrams Research Evaluation

Created by: JazzEastman
Created on: 18-02-20 12:53


	Milgrams Research Evaluation
	Advantages good external validity the central feature of this situation was the relationship between the authority figure and the participant Milgram argued that the lab environment accurately reflecte wider authority relationships in real life Hofling et al; studied nurses in a hospital ward and found that levels of obedience to unjustified demands by doctors were very high (21/22 nurses obey)	Disadvantages low internal validity Orne and Holland (1968) - participants behaved the way they did because they didn't believe in the set up - they guessed they weren't real shocks Perry's (2013) research - she listened to tapes of Milgram's participants and reported that many of them expressed their doubts However: Sheridan and King; similar study where real shocks were given to a puppy. 54% of males and 100% females thought they were real An alternative explanation social identity theory; key to obedience lies in group identification in his research participants identified with experimenter; identified with the science of the study when obedience levels fell this was because the particpants identified less with the science and more with the victim or another group Haslam and Reicher; 4 prods...4th prod demands obdience so participant quit ethical issues - deception
	Evaluation Although there is low internal validity, Sheirdan and King's research suggests that the effects in Milgram's study were genuine because people behaved the same way with real shocks. Milgram himself reported that 70% of his participants believed the shocks were genuine.The fact that the research has good external validity and there is research support suggests that the process of obdience to authority occured in lab study can be generalised to other situations. Therefore his findings do have something valuable to tell us about how obedience operates in real life. The alternative explanation of obedience, social learning theory limits Milgram's conclusion because people carried on with the experiement because they identified with the science of the study. The last prod was the only one that demanded obedience so people quit.

Milgrams Research Evaluation

Advantages

good external validity
the central feature of this situation was the relationship between the authority figure and the participant
Milgram argued that the lab environment accurately reflecte wider authority relationships in real life
Hofling et al; studied nurses in a hospital ward and found that levels of obedience to unjustified demands by doctors were very high (21/22 nurses obey)

Disadvantages

low internal validity
Orne and Holland (1968) - participants behaved the way they did because they didn't believe in the set up - they guessed they weren't real shocks
Perry's (2013) research - she listened to tapes of Milgram's participants and reported that many of them expressed their doubts
However: Sheridan and King; similar study where real shocks were given to a puppy. 54% of males and 100% females thought they were real
An alternative explanation
social identity theory; key to obedience lies in group identification
in his research participants identified with experimenter; identified with the science of the study
when obedience levels fell this was because the particpants identified less with the science and more with the victim or another group
Haslam and Reicher; 4 prods...4th prod demands obdience so participant quit
ethical issues - deception

Evaluation

Although there is low internal validity, Sheirdan and King's research suggests that the effects in Milgram's study were genuine because people behaved the same way with real shocks. Milgram himself reported that 70% of his participants believed the shocks were genuine.The fact that the research has good external validity and there is research support suggests that the process of obdience to authority occured in lab study can be generalised to other situations. Therefore his findings do have something valuable to tell us about how obedience operates in real life. The alternative explanation of obedience, social learning theory limits Milgram's conclusion because people carried on with the experiement because they identified with the science of the study. The last prod was the only one that demanded obedience so people quit.

Get Revising

Milgrams Research Evaluation