To see how far ordinary people would go when being ordered to give electric shocks
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What was the sample?
40 men aged 20-50
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How was the sample gathered?
It was a volunteer sample recruited through a newspaper
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What was the method?
The participants-known as the teachers- had to ask questions to the learners (confederates) who were allocated the roles in a rigged draw. Every time the question was answered wrong the voltage was increased and they were ordered to shock them
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What happened if the participant refused?
They were given prods to continue
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What were the results?
100% of the participants obeyed to 300v but onto 65% obeyed to 450v
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What was concluded from the study?
That ordinary individuals will obey in pressured conditions even if they feel uncomfortable
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What are the strengths of the procedure?
It was a standardised procedure which increases replicability, it had high controls which increases validity and the men were from different backgrounds which makes it more representative
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What are the weaknesses of the procedure?
There were ethical issues such as; protection from harm and deception, it is a lab study so lacks ecological validity and the sample is not generaliseable as they were all male
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