Milligram's Obedience Tests (1963)

BACKGROUND:

• Professor of Psychology at Yale University.  
• Interested in question of why so many ordinary Germans had obeyed orders to kill innocents
• Adolf Eichmann, responsible for Final Solution said "I was only following orders".  Executed days after Milgram completed his study.
• Intended as a pilot study, prior to carrying out in Germany.  Results were so dramatic, there no need.

AIM:

• How far will ordinary people go if asked to inflict pain on a person?
• To test the "Germans are different" hypothesis which claimed a personality trait specific to German people was responsible for the obedience they exhibited to commit such heinous crimes.

METHOD:

• Newspaper advertisment for a "scientific study of memory and learning".  Paid $4.
• 40 male participants.
• Researcher and Learner - confederates.
•  Word pairs.  Get wrong, get a shock. 15 volt increments. Slight shock (15v) to *** (450v).
• Teacher (only real participant) given a real 45 volt electric shock prior to start.
• When would teacher refuse to continue to participate?
• Recorded response from learner were played to teacher:

150v - learner began to protest, "release me"!

300v - refused to answer, "heart bothering me"!

315v - screamed loudly, then was heard no more.

• If teacher seemed reluctant, he was encouraged to continue through a series of verbal prods.

QUANTIATIVE RESULTS:

• 62.5% (25/40) of participants gave shocks up to max. 450v.
• In variation with NO pre-recorded responses but learner pounding on the walls instead, 65% (26/40) of participants gave shocks up to max. 450v.
• 100% of participants continued up to at least 300v.

QUALIATITVE RESULTS:

• Many participants showed distress: twitching, sweating, giggling nervously, digging nails into flesh, verbally attacking experimenter.
• 3 participants had uncontrollable seizures.
• Some participants showed little sign of discomfort.

CONCLUSION:

• "Germans are different" hypothesis clearly FALSE!
• Milgram's 40 "ordinary" Americans showed a high level of obedience towards an authority figure.
• Results suggest that obeying those in authority is normal behaviour in a hierarchiacally organised society.
• We will obey orders that distress us and go against our moral code.

EVALUATION:

• This study established the basic paradigm for studying obedience, adopted by many subsequent researchers.
• Milgram conducted 19 variations of the study, each time altering one aspect of the procedure to try and identify reasons WHY people were so obedient.
• Was hoped these findings would help form strategies to reduce blind obedience.
• Most people, including Milgram, refer to this as an experiment.  However, there is no IV.  Controlled observation is more accurate...
• ...BUT it can be considered an experiment if the 19 variations are considered. Each time a different IV is manipulated.

VARIATIONS TO ORIGINAL STUDY:

These included:

• Changes to the pre-recorded script that the learner heard e.g. no verbals, just banging.
• Experimenter absent and giving instructions via telephone.
• Teacher and learner in the same room together, teacher had to hold learner's hand on electrode.
• White coats changed for grey coats.
• Location of study moved from Yale Campus to office block in run-down part of town.
• Two other "teachers" - confederates - would sit  alongside participant.  At 150v, one refused to continue, then at 210 volts the second refused to continue.