Obedience

Question 1

Who conducted research into obedience?

Answer 1

Milgram

Question 2

What is the aim of
Milgram’s obedience study?

Answer 2

Are Germans more obedient than Americans?

Question 3

What was the procedure in the experiment?

Answer 3

• Learner strapped into a chair in another room and wired up with electrodes
• Teacher required to administer electric shocks each time a learner made a mistake
  (learning word pairs)
• Real shock demonstrated on teacher (after this, shocks weren’t real)
• Shocks began at 15 (slight shock)
• Up to level 30: 450 volts (danger-severe shock)
• teacher at 300 volts, learner pounded on wall and didnt respond to question
• At 315 volts, learner pounded on the wall and no further response for the rest of the experiment

Question 4

What was the procedure leading up to the experiment?

Answer 4

• 40 males recruited through newspapers
  > asked for volunteers for a study into memory
• All aged between 20 and 50
• Jobs ranged from unskilled to professional
• Offered $4.50 to take part (decent in 60s) and paid upon arrival
• A rigged election decided their role
• Confederate: Mr. Wallace always ended up as the learner and the participant always ended up as the teacher
• Experimenter present in a lab coat
• Participants told they can leave at any time

Question 5

What are participant prods?

Answer 5

Words of encouragement used in the obedience study to persuade teachers to continue when they turned to experimenters for guidance

Question 6

What would the experimenter say as guidance?

Answer 6

“An absence of response should be treated as a wrong answer”

Question 7

What are the 4 participant prods if teachers are unsure?

Answer 7

“Please continue”
“The experiment requires that you continue”
“It is absolute essential that you continue”
“You have no choice, you must go on”

Question 8

What were the findings of the obedience study?

Answer 8

No participant stopped below 300 volts
- 12.5% stopped at 300 volts
- 65% continued to highest level of 450 volts
- Qualitative data (observations) collected revealed participants showed signs of tension
- 3 participants had ‘full blown, uncontrollable seizures’

Question 9

What were the signs of tension?

Answer 9

Sweating, trembling, stuttering, lip biting and groaning

Question 10

What were the estimated findings before the study?

Answer 10

• 14 psych students predicted no more than 3% would continue to 450 volts

Question 11

How did Milgram combat ethical issues?

Answer 11

• Right to withdraw
  > Milgram informed them of this before the start of the study
• Fully informed consent
  > volunteering through newspapers, adverts and flyers as consent for participation
• The use of deception
  > fully debriefed at the end of the study and justified participants behavior
• Importance of protecting participants from the risk of psych and physical harm
  > fake shocks used throughout he experiment

Question 11

What studies strengthened obedience research?

Answer 11

Sheridan and King
Hofling et al
Documentary about reality TV in France

Question 12

What was Sheridan and King’s study?

Answer 12

Conducted a similar study with puppies
- Puppies issued real electric shocks
- 54% of male participants delivered what they believe was a fatal shock
- 100% of female participants delivered what they believe was a fatal shock
- Effects of Milgram’s study was genuine

Question 12

What was Hofling et al’s study?

Answer 12

Studied nurses on a ward
- Found levels of obedience to unjustified demands were very high
- 21 out of 22 nurses obeyed
- Milgram’s findings can be generalized to other settings

Question 13

What study was conducted on the documentary about reality TV in France?

Answer 13

• Participants thought they were contestants in a new game show
• Paid to give (fake) electric shocks to other participants when ordered to do so
• 80% of participants delivered the maximum shock of 460 volts to an ‘unconscious’ man
• Participant displayed the same tension as those in Milgram’s study
  = demonstrates that the findings were not a one off

Question 14

What did Orne and Holland say?

Answer 14

Argued that participants only behave the way hey did as they didn’t believe shocks were real
> Means Milgram wasn’t testing what he thought he was
> Means the study lacks internal validity

Question 14

What’s another strength of Milgram’s study?

Answer 14

• May lack external validity due to being conducted in a lab
• Central feature was about the relationship between ‘experimenter’ and participant
• Lab reflected wider authority relationships in real life

Question 15

Who critiques milgrams study?

Answer 15

Orne and Hollard
Perry
Baumind

Question 16

What did Perry do?

Answer 16

Listened to the recordings from the study and heard participants expressing doubts about the shocks

Question 17

What did Baumind say?

Answer 17

Criticized Milgram’s deception
- led participants to believe their role was selected at random and to believe they was electrocuting people
- Could be viewed as a betrayal of trust
- Could damage the reputation of psycholoists
- Could damage reputation of the research
- Could prevent participants from volunteering to another experiment again