Milgram Experiment 1963

Why?

• He wondered why the Nazi's obeyed Hitler and his represtatives when they killed so many people and caused so much harm. 
• He wanted to know if the Germans were different to us.

Who?

• 40 men ages between 20 and 50
• All from the same middle-class area in the US
• Experience and education varied
• All paid $4.50 through an advertisment 

• The client thinks he is sitting next to another client they are both given a piece of paper one saying teacher and one syaing learner, the client gets teacher every time
• The client, learner and experimenter walk into a room and the learner is strapped down to a chair and is supposedly connected to the shock machine
• The learner (actor) explains to the experimenter he has a heart condition and is this safe
• The teacher is then taken through to a different room and told that he is going to tell the learner word pairs e.g. boy blue the teacher then repeats the first word of the word pairs and the leaner is given 4 options to choose from
• If the learners answer is incorrect he gets a shock
• The experimenter tell the teacher he must go up a voltage scale (15V) every time an answer is incorrect and that the shocks may be painful not dangerous
• The teacher begins and at around 130-150 volts the learner shouts and said his heart is hurting
• The teacher is pressured to carry on until the end
• The learner is not actually in the room at this point and is playing a tape recorder instead
• The experiment is to test how far people will go on the scale under pressure
• The teacher is then debriefed at the end and told what was going on
• Questionnaires are sent out the next year.

Results:

• 65% of people went all the way under the pressure and went to 450V
• 100% of people went up to 300V
• 35% of people couldnt carry on pass 300V and rebelled against the pressure

Theory:

• Our behaviour changes due to the situation we're in and what pressure we're under
• Our personalities do not come into play in these situations as you feel you have no other choice than to listen to an authority figure and obey them
• The way someone comes across effects whether we obey them
• So Germans are not different to us

Reliability:

• The sample used only includes 40 men between the ages of 20&50.This means it is not to be taken as representative of the target population and therefore cannot be generalised to women, other ages or other countries
• The sample consisted of volunteers. This would mean they were more motivated and obedient to even sign up in the first place. So demand characteristics are going to be more likely and so the results may be misleading and so cannot be generalised to a whole population
• Milgram used procedures that included scripted prompts and tape recorded reactions of the learner. Meaning that the variables were controlled therfore the study can be replicated and tested for reliability. 

Ethical Issues:

• Althought the participants did consent to the experiment they didn't consent to the actual experiment that he performed on them and so did not get informed consent
• He used deception to get them to take part in the experiment, he lied on purpose as he knew no one would volunteer for a learning and punishment experiment
• Milgram didn't give them the right to withdraw as he didn't tell them at the start of the experiment that they could withdraw at any time and made it really difficult for them
• He didnt protect them as some were caused pychological harm as they really had thought they'd killed someone that day and it stayed with them

Was the Experiment Justified?

For:

• Other research supports Milgram such as Hofling who found 21/22 nurses were willing to obey barbaric orders from a 'doctor'.
• Guidelines were not in place then, so technically none were broken
• It benefitted society massively e.g. stereotypes against Nazi Germany as it proved any nationality was/ is capable

Against:

• It took place at a top university and so can be said to be more artificial, unreliable results
• Accused lack of respect for participants because some were not fully debriefed