Where was the experiment conducted
Yale university
Who was the authority figure
An experimenter dressed in a grey lab coat with a stern serious demeanour
Teacher or learner
Participant told the aim of the study was to investigate affects of punishment on learning
Picked either teacher or learner card ( experimenter always got learner)
How high volts was the sample shock given to the participant
45V
Electric chair
Learned strapped to chair, told shocks may be painful but not harmful
Shock generator
Series of switches and marks indicating voltages ranging from 15 to 450v
Words said things like strong shock, very strong, severe, XXX
Word pairs
Teacher would read word pairs then give options for right answers
Learner would on purpose get them wrong- teacher increasing shock by 15v each time
What happened at 300V
The learner would kick the wall then stop answering questions
Teacher told to wait 5-10 seconds before treating absence as incorrect
Prods
If they showed hesitation, experimenter would say ‘please continue’, ‘the experiment requires that you continue’ and ‘you have no other choices you must go on’
End of experiment
The experiment ended when they reached 450 or when they refused to continue
Following the study patients were debriefed
