Zusammenfassung der Ressource
RESEARCH INTO OBEDIENCE
- AO1
- AIM: To investigate whether
ordinary people will obey a
legitimate authority even when
required to injure an ordinary
person
- PROCEDURE: The experiment was a laboratory experiment. It
involvedved 2 confederates who were the 'learners' and the
experimenter, the real participants (pps) were the 'teachers'. The
pps were told they must administer increasingly strong electric
shocks to the learner every time they got a question wrong.
- At 300V, the learner made a noise and if the pp asked to stop,
the experimenter gave a series of verbal prods such as 'it is
absolutely essential you continue'.
- 300V - learner made a noise
- increasingly strong electric shock
- Laboratory Experiment
- METHOD: Milgram sourced 40 male
participants (pps) through volunteer sampling as
he advertised for volunteers to take part in what
they thought was a study of how punishment
affects learning at Yale Uni. Each pp was paid
$4.50.
- Volunteer sampling: advertisment
- FINDINGS: Psychologists predicted very few pps would go
above 150V. However, 65% of the pps continued to 450V
(the maximum)
- CONCLUSIONS: Ordinary people are obedient to authority even
when asked to behave in an inhumane way. Therefore, people who
are seen as evil due to there severe crimes they commit, may actually
be obeying orders.
- This means crimes are a result of
situational factors rather than genetics. It
shows an individuals ability to make
independent decisions is reduced when
they are below someone in a social
hierarchy.
- Situational factors rather than genetics.
- independence reduced when
below in social hierarchy
- Just obeying orders, rather than evil
- AO2
- I: Milgram deceived his pps as he told
them it was a study into how punishment
affects people's learning. E: This means
that the pps didn't know the true intentions
of the study so could give informed
consent, and therefore raisng ethical
issues. J: However, Milgram claimed that it
would be meaningless without an element
of deception, and so justifies the
experiment somewhat
- Ethical issue of deception
- One strength of this experiment is that it was
conducted in laboratory conditions and so
has high internal validity. This means
extraneous variables such as conferring
between pps could be controlled and the
experiment could therefore measure what it
intends to
- However, the fact it was a lab experiment means it lacks
external validity. This is because the setting didn't mirror that of
real life and sow has low ecological validity. Therefore, it can't
be known for certain whether people would act in the same way
in real life.
- Low external val
- high internal val - lab exp
- Mandel criticised Milgram's study for lacking external validity through looking
into reserve battalion 101.In presence of allies, the men of the battalion were
aware some of their peers had excluded themselves form the massacre, but
most of the men continued until it was finished. This contrasts with Milgram's
findings whereby the pps took the opportunity to stop. Therefore
demonstrating how Milgram's study lacks external validity as it completely
contrasts with findings form real life and so it can be concluded, role of allies
doesn't necessarily reduce obedience levels.