Transcript PowerPoint Presentation - The Milgram Obedience Study

Milgram (1963) Study on Obedience
AICE AS Level Psychology
Lecture 1
“This presentation contains copyrighted
material under the educational fair use
exemption to the U.S. copyright law”
I. BACKGROUND
• A. The GADH (Germans Are Different
Hypothesis)- A popular explanation of
why the Holocaust could only have
happened in Germany.
• 1. Hitler could not have put his plans into
place without the cooperation of thousands
of others.
• 2. Therefore Germans must have a basic
character defect (a readiness to follow
orders) that allowed Hitler to be successful
I. BACKGROUND
• B. Hannah Arendt’s Report:
• 1. She wrote Eichmann in Jerusalem: A
Report on the Banality of Evil
• 2. She conducted interviews with Adolph
Eichmann during his trial 1961
• 3. She concluded that he was not evil, but
had abdicated his will to the bureaucracy
• 4. Milgram interpreted Arendt's work to mean
that even the most ordinary of people can
commit horrendous crimes if placed in certain
situations and given certain incentives
II. SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
• A. Obedience or (submissive
compliance) is the act of obeying orders
from a superior
• B. Compliance is when a person acts
on the explicit request of peers
• C. Conformity is when a person acts
with the intention of his behavior
matching that of the majority
II. SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
• D. The inclination toward obedient
behavior has been regarded as a
personality trait
• E. A situational attribution is one
which explains people’s behavior as
being impacted or even controlled by
environmental factors
• F. A dispostional attribution is one
which explains people’s behavior as
coming from within and under their
control
III. STUDY BASICS
• A. Aim
• 1. To investigate what level of obedience
would be shown when participants were
told by an authority figure to administer
electric shocks to another person
• 2. This study was conducted as a PILOT
study for one that Milgram intended to
carry out in Germany
• 3. He believed that he would have lower
levels of obedience in the US than in
Germany
III. STUDY BASICS
• B. Sample
• 1. 40 white males aged 20 – 50 from New
Haven CT and the surrounding area (Yale
University)
• a. Wide range of education levels from one
who did not complete elementary school to
those with PhD’s
• b. 15 skilled or unskilled laborers, 16 white
collar or salesmen and 9 professionals
• c. They answered ads in a newspaper for a
Yale study on memory and learning.
• d. They were paid $4.50 for their participation.
Recruiting
advertisement for the
Milgram Study
IV. PROCEDURE
• A. The setup
• 1. Greeted by “Jack Williams” a
stooge or confederate playing the
role of a lab tech in a grey lab coat
with clipboard.
• a. Really he was a local high school
biology teacher
• b. Who was instructed to act rather
stern throughout the study
IV. PROCEDURE
• 2. Introduced to Mr. Wallace, the ‘learner’
(also a stooge or confederate), a likeable
47 year old accountant who had arrived
first
• 3. Entire set was preplanned, staged and
scripted except for responses of the
‘teacher’.
• 4. The study was explained to the subject
as an experimentation on the role of
punishment in learning
IV. PROCEDURE
• B. “Learning”
• 1. Confederate’s task was to memorize
pairs of words.
• 2. When tested, the "learner/confederate"
would indicate his answer using a system
of lights.
• 3. The "teacher/subject’s" role was to
administer a shock every time the learner
made a mistake.
• 4. Each mistake would earn a
progressively more powerful shock.
CUE QUESTIONS
• Cue 1: Refer to the Oxford Revision guide and
define the term pilot study and explain why an
experimenter might conduct one.
• Cue 2: What type of sample did Milgram use?
• Cue 3: What are 1 Strength and 1 weakness of
this type of sampling.
• Cue 4: Write down 3 facts about the sample that
you will memorize( ie numbers and
characteristics.)
• Cue 5: What are 2 advantages of running an
UNETHICAL experiment?
SOURCES
•
http://tocka.com.mk/8/106324/poznati-psiholoski-eskperimenti-koi-ne-bi-smeele-da-seslucat-denes
•
http://www.tantor.com/BookDetail.asp?Product=B0165_Eichmann
•
http://boingboing.net/2010/07/12/eerie-relic-of-scien.html
•
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/09/my-summer-with-stanley-milgram/
Milgram (1963) Study on Obedience
AICE AS Level Psychology
Lecture 2
“This presentation contains copyrighted
material under the educational fair use
exemption to the U.S. copyright law”
IV. PROCEDURE
• C. Administering the shock
• 1. The participant watched the confederate
being strapped into a chair in an adjoining
room with electrodes attached to his arms
IV PROCEDURE
• 2. The subject sat in front of the shock
generator had 30 levers, each of which
indicated the level of shock to be given.
IV PROCEDURE
 3. Levers labeled from “Slight Shock” to
“Danger: Severe Shock” XXX
 4. The “teachers” were given a shock of
45 volts to convince them that the
shocks were real
 5. For every mistake made, a shock
given and shocks proceeded in
intensity.
 6. Teacher was to announce the shock
level each time.
THE SET UP LOOKED SOMETHING LIKE
THIS
E = Experimenter
T = Teacher
L = Learner
Notice the learner is
in a different room
from the teacher
IV. PROCEDURE
• 7. The “learner’s” response to the
questions was scripted and played
back on a tape recorder
IV. PROCEDURE
• E. “Learner Feedback”
• 1. Prior to 300 volts the “learner” made
statements indicating he was experiencing
discomfort and even reported a heart
problem.
• 2. Then at 300 volts the learner pounded
on the wall of the other room which could be
heard by the subject
• 3. From this point on, the learner no longer
answered
• 4. The learner's pounding was repeated at
315 volts
• 5. After this point, the learner made no
more sounds or protests
IV. PROCEDURE
• F. Instructions to the “teacher” or subject.
• 1. If the subject objected to continuing
• 2. Then the Experimenter prompts:
• a. Please continue (or “Please go on”)
• b. The experiment requires that you continue
• c. It is absolutely essential that you continue
• d. You have no other choice, you must go on
IV. PROCEDURE
• 3. If the P refused four times in a row to
continue, he would be done with the
experiment. However, if he refused and then
continued shocking, it would reset.
• 4. The experiment continued either until the
subject refused to continue or until 450 volts
were reached and given four times
• 5. The participant was then debriefed and
taken to meet the confederate
V. RESULTS/FINDINGS
• A. Quantitative Results
• 1. All participants went to at least 300 volts
on the shock generator
• 65 % of participants went to the end and
believed they had administered the full 450
volts
• B. Qualitative Results
• 1. the amount of stress and tension clearly
observed in the participants.
V. RESULTS/FINDINGS
• 2. Most participants found the procedure
very stressful & wanted to stop.
• 3. Signs of anxiety included sweating,
trembling, stuttering, biting their lips,
groaning, digging their fingernails into their
flesh, and having of nervous laughing fit.
• 4. 3 subjects had seizures
V. RESULTS/FINDINGS
• 5. Remarks from two subjects:
• a. “Is he banging? Is he hurt out there? Well, I don’t want
to be responsible for anything that happens to him. No, I
can’t go on with it. I don’t know whether he’s all right or
not. I mean he may have a heart condition or something. I
wouldn’t feel right doing it….I don’t see any sense to
this…I just can’t see it”
• b. “You want me to keep going? You hear him hollering?
What if something happens to him? I refuse to take
responsibility….”
CUES
• Cue 6: From the Oxford review book discuss the
difference between experimental realism and mundane
realism?
• Cue 7: What steps did the experimenters take to
ensure this study had as much experimental realism as
possible?
• Cue 8: How do we know they were successful?
• Cue 9: Did the P’s have the right to withdrawal?
• Cue 10: Write down 2 examples of Quantitative data
that you will remember for this study
• Cue 11: Write down 2 examples of qualitative data that
you will remember for this study
• Cue 12: What is 1 strength and 1 weakness of using
qualitative data
SOURCES
•
http://2sociocultural.blogspot.com/2012/09/justification-of-zimbardos-and-milgrams.html
•
http://www.holah.karoo.net/milgramstudy.htm
•
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
•
http://flashbak.com/stanley-milgrams-obedience-study-could-science-explain-theholocaust-9546/
•
https://thesituationist.wordpress.com/tag/phil-zimbardo/
•
http://www.faqt.nl/recent/vu-herhaalt-gruwelijk-experiment/
Milgram (1963) Study on Obedience
AICE AS Level Psychology
Lecture 3
“This presentation contains copyrighted
material under the educational fair use
exemption to the U.S. copyright law”
VI. CONCLUSIONS
• A. Under certain circumstances, most
people will obey orders that go against
their conscience
• B. When people occupy a subordinate
position in a dominance hierarchy, they
become liable to lose feelings of
empathy, compassion and morality, and
are inclined towards blind obedience
• C. Atrocities (WWII) may be largely
explained in terms of pressures to obey
a powerful authority
VII. FACTORS IMPACTING OBEDIENCE
• A. The fact that the experiment took
place at the prestigious Yale University
lent the study and procedure credibility
and respect.
• 1. In one follow up study Milgram moved the
study to an abandoned office bldg and the
rate dropped to 47%
• B. The participant believed that the
experiment was for a worthy purpose - to
advance knowledge and understanding of
learning processes.
VII. FACTORS EFFECTING OBEDIENCE
• C. The participant believed the
confederate had volunteered to be in
the study and therefore had an
obligation to take part even if the
procedures become unpleasant
• D. The participant felt himself to be
similarly obligated to take part in the
procedures as planned
• E. Being paid increased the sense of
obligation.
• F. Believed the roles of learner and
teacher had been assigned fairly
VII. FACTORS EFFECTING OBEDIENCE
• G. Had never been a participant in an
experiment before:
• 1. Did not know the rights
• 2. Had no norms
• H. They were told that the shocks were
‘painful but not dangerous’
• I. (ends justifying means) This shortterm pain was balanced with the
possibility of long-term scientific gain.
• I. Learner responded to all of the
questions until the 300 volts indicating a
willingness to take part in the study.
VIII. EVALUATIONS WEAKNESSES
• A. Ethics
• 1. Deception
• a. Milgram deceived the participants about the
nature and reality of the shocks
• b. Was there any other way to get valid
results?
• 2. Harm - They could have suffered long
term shock as a result of their realization of
their willingness to shock someone else.
VIII. EVALUATIONS WEAKNESSES
• 3. Right to Withdrawal
• a. Milgram told the participants that they
could quit at the beginning of the experiment
and the money was still theirs
• b. However, the prods he used made this
unethical because it was implied that the
person could not quit
• c. Was there any other way to see how far
the participants would go?
VIII. EVALUATIONS WEAKNESSES
• 4. Sampling
• a. Only American men (white)
• b. Only people who saw and responded to the
advertisment.
• c. However, several studies have replicated the
results across cultures.
• 5. Ecological validity
• a. Defined
• i. Ecological validity is the degree to which the
behaviors observed and recorded in a study
reflect the behaviors that actually occur in
natural settings.
VIII. EVALUATION OF WEAKNESSES
• ii. In addition, ecological validity is associated
with "generalizability". Essentially this is the
extent to which findings (from a study) can be
generalized (or extended) to the "real world".
• iii. In virtually all studies there is a trade-off
between experimental control and ecological
validity.
• b. Milgram study
• Carried out in an artificial environment
• However other studies that were less artificial
found similar results
• One involved nurses and lethal injections and the
other involved actual electric shocks to puppies.
IX. EVALUATIONS STRENGTHS
• A. Controls
• 1. Participants believed that roles were
assigned randomly.
• 2. Believed they were actually
administering shock
• 3. Same apparatus and set-up
• 4. Same commands and prods from
experimenter.
• B. Another strength was that he
collected both quantitative and
qualitative data.
X. INTERESTING ASIDES
• The “learner”, Mr. McDonough, died of a
heart attack three years after the studies
ended. His neighbor, who unsuccessfully
tried to revive him using mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation, had been a “teacher” in the
Milgram studies and had administered
“shocks” to Mr. McDonough just a few years
earlier.
X. INTERESTING ASIDES
• One of the “teachers” (who had gone all the way to
450 volts) was invited into a social psychology
class to speak about his experience in the study.
The students (who had already learned about the
study) were nearly silent and stared at him with
accusing and disbelieving eyes. He reminded the
class that you never know what you might have
done in that situation.
• “Beyond the Shock Machine” - Gina Perry
CUES
• Cue 13: List 3 reasons for the high level of
obedience among the participants
• Cue 14: List 3 weakness of the
methodology used in this study.
• Cue 15: List 2 strengths of the
methodology used in this study.