Milgram

• Importance of obedience in real life (eg. we need law and order in order to have harmonious communal living)
• Attrocities of 1933-1945, Germans obeyed anti-sematic laws and killed millions of innocent people
• Ardent (1965) behaviour of Eichman, 'terrifyingly normal' terms of obedience were used (Germans are different)
• Adorno (1950) authoritarian personality due to harsh upbringing

AIMS: to investigate the tendency to obey other people who are in a position of authority. Would people obey to the extent of pain and harm, violating ethical and moral codes

• 40 males (volunteer sample) 20-50 and paid $4.50 even if they left
• Niave p.p was introduced to Mr Wallace - drew a rigged lot to be learner and teacher
• Learner was strapped into electric chair - electrodes placed on wrists
• Teacher kept in adjoining room, shock machine, 30 switches 15-450V marked, slight, *** ect. Shock given with each wrong answer
• Learner gave 1 wrong to every 3 right, protests after 300V, pound on the wall, and then silence
• Experimenter had 4 promts: please continue, the experiment requires you continue, it is absolutely essential you continue, you have no other choice you must go on, Special prods given
• Debreifing afterwards, reunited 

• 0%-3% expected to administer 450V
• None stopped before 300, 5 stopped at this point
• 65% administed 450V, 14 defied the authority at some point
• Signs of psychological distess, 14 showed nervous laughter/smiling, sweating, stuttering, self harm, groaning

CONCLUSIONS: 'the phenomen of obedience must rest on the analysis of the particular conditions of which it occurs'

13 elements which contribute eg. standards of Yale being unimpeachable

• Design: lab experiment, control of extraneous variables, demand characteristics
• Ethical issues: use of deception, psychological harm, right to withdraw
• Reliability: Hard to replicate due to ethical issues
• Validity: experimental - p.p did not believe the shocks were real, demand characteristics, only 2.4% believed the shocks were not real. ecological - confirmed in other settings, artificialness, set out to test obedience, this was clearly done
• Sample: all male sample, volunteer sample

• Gender bias - Milgram (1974) women same level of obedience
• Ecological validity - Hofling (1966) 21/22 nurses, Dr Smith, Astroten drug
• Situation bias - Milgram (1974) increasing proximity, lab/office
• Historical bias - Burger (2009) similar results, 70% willing to go past 150V