Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Burger (2009)
- ABOUT
- AIM
- To find out if the same results as Milgram’s 1963 study re-occur when the study is
replicated with modern participants in 2009.
- IV
- The main IV is the base condition (same as Milgram, 1963)
compared with the “model refusal” (rebellious partner)
condition.
- DV
- Obedience is measured by how many volts the last shock to be delivered was
- SAMPLE
- 70 participants (a mixture of men and women) did
the experiment
- Volunteer sampling, they were paid $50 before the study started
- Design
- This is an Independent Groups design.
- PROCEDURE
- The procedure replicates
Milgram’s variation #5 on
his baseline study. The
experimenter is a white
man in his 30s; the
confederate (learner) is in
his 50s.
- The test shock that the
participant receives is only 15V
rather than Milgram’s painful 45V.
- The teacher reads out 25 multiple choice
questions and the learner uses a buzzer to
indicate the answer.
- If the answer is wrong, the experimenter directs the teacher to deliver a shock,
starting at 15V and going up in 15V intervals.
- The learner indicates he has a “slight heart condition” but the
experimenter replies that the shocks are not harmful.
- At 75V the learner starts making sounds of
pain. At 150V the learner cries that he wants
to stop and complains about chest pains.
- If the teacher moves to deliver the 165V shock, the experimenter stops the experiment
- MODEL REFUSAL
- A second confederate pretends to be a second teacher.
- This teacher delivers the shocks, with the
naïve participant watching.
- At 90V the confederate teacher turns to the naïve participant and says “I don’t know about this.” He
refuses to go on and the experimenter tells the naïve participant to take over delivering the shocks.
- RESULTS
- 70% of participants in the baseline condition were prepared to
go past 150V, compared to 82.5% in Milgram’s Variation #5.
- Burger also compared men and women but didn’t find a difference in obedience.
- Empathy did not make a significant difference to obedience.
- CONCLUSION
- Burger concludes that Milgram’s results still stand half a
century later. People are still influenced by situational factors
to obey an authority figure, even if it goes against their moral
values.
- EVALUATION
- GENERALISABILITY
- Burger’s sample of 70 people is larger than Milgram’s
sample of 40 and it covers a wider age range (Milgram
recruited 20-50 year olds, Burger 20-81 year olds)
- RELIABILITY
- By filming the whole thing, Burger adds to the inter-rater
reliability because other people can view his participants’
behaviour and judge obedience for themselves.
- APPLICATION
- The study demonstrates how obedience to authority works and this can be used to increase
obedience in settings like schools, workplaces and prisons
- VALIDITY
- Milgram’s study was criticised for lacking ecological validity because
the task is artificial – in real life, teachers are not asked to deliver
electric shocks to learners. This criticism still applies to Burger’s
study.
- ETHICS
- Burger screened out participants who were likely
to be distressed by the study.