Milgram 1963

Milgram 1963 : behavioural study of obedience

METHODOLOGY:

• lab = able to control conditions
• no IV
• controlled observation

Milgram recruited participants using volunteer sampling. He selected 40 males aged 20-50, all with different backgrounds and jobs.

Participants were told the study was about memory and learning.

Each was paid $4.50 and told they would receive this upon coming to the lab.

PROCEDURES:

• study took place in a lab at Yale University

• ppt's were greeted by a 31 year old 'experimenter' who was dressed in a grey's technician coat

• another ppt was at the lab - a 47 year old accountant, Mr Wallace.

• ppt's drew slips of paper to decide which of them would play the role of teacher or learned (section was rigged)

• both learner and teacher were taken to the experimental room, where learner was strapped into an 'electric chair'

The shocking machine:

• the teacher was taken to the adjoining room and seated infront of the shock generator

- the machine had 30 switches on it and started from 15 volts going up to 450 volts

The learning task:

• Once study began, the teacher was told to administer a shock when learner gave the wrong answer and to escalate to a higher level of shock each time, announcing it.

Feedback from the experimenter:

• The experimenter was trained to give…