Stanley Milgram (1963) sought to find the answer to the question as to why
so many people supported Hitlers plan during the Holocaust
Procedure
40 male participants found through
newspaper adverts, advertised as a study
about memory and ways of improving
memory.
Rigged draw for roles, meaning participant was
always given the role of teacher, and confederate
actor took on the role of learner, participants told
they could leave the study at any time.
Learner was strapped into a chair and wired with
electrodes, whilst the teacher was ordered to give the
learner an increasingly severe electric shock when the
answer to a question was incorrect.
Shock level went form 15v to 450v (deathly)
At 300v learner pounded on
the wall then gave no
response,
When teacher tried to back out,
experimenter used a series of prods.
"Please continue", "the experimenter
requires you to continue", "it is absolutely
essential that you continue", "you have no
other choice, you must go on"
Findings
No participants
stopped before 300v.
12.5% stopped at 300v
65% continued to
the highest
voltage level.
Had 14 psychology students predict
the participants behaviour. They
estimated that max 3% of p. would
continue to 450v.
Evaluation
Strengths
Good external validity
Lab environment accurately reflected wider
authority relationships in real life. Hofling
et al (1966) studied nurses on a hospital
ward and found that levels of obedience to
unjustified demands by doctors were very
high.
Study can be generalised to other situations
Supporting replication
Le Jeu de la Mort is a documentary about reality TV.
Participants believed they were contestants in a pilot
episode for a new game show, they were paid to give
electric shocks in front of a studio audience
Similar to Milgram's findings,
80% delivered the maximum
shock to an apparently
unconscious man.
Low internal validity
Orne and Holland (1968) argued that the participants behaved the
way they did because they knew it was a set up, therefore lacking
internal validity. But in Gina Perry's (2013) experiment she reported
that many of the participants expressed doubts about the shocks.
Sheridan and King (1972) conducted a
similar study where real shocks were
administered to a puppy, 54% of males
and 100% of females gave a fatal shocks.
Weaknesses
Ethical issues
Milgram led the participants to believe that the
allocation was random but it was fixed. This
means that there was a betrayal of trust and
participants thought they had killed a man.
Alternative interpretations of findings
Alex Haslam et al (2014) showed that Milgram's
participants obeyed when the experimenter delivered the
first 3 prods however every participant given the prod
"you have no other choice" disobeyed. According to social
identity theory participants only obeyed when they
identified with the scientific aims of the research
Suggests that SIT provides a better
interpretation of Milgram's findings.