Milgram

Evaluation

Uniform

Research Support

Cross-Cultural Replications

Lack of Internal Validity

• It's more likely that participants in the variations realised the procedure was fake due to extra manipulation.
• It's unclear whether the results are genuinely due to obedience or because of demand characteristics.

• Bickman's study supports Milgram's research.
• He had 3 confederates dressed in a jacket and tie, a milkman's outfit and as a security guard.
• They stood in the street and asked passers-by to perform tasks.
• People were twice likely to obey the security guard than the confederate in the jacket and tie.

• The findings of cross-cultural research supports Milgram.
• Miranda et al. found an obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students.
• Suggests Milgram's findings can be applied across cultures and to females.

• In the original study the experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of authority.
• In a variation, the role of the experimenter was replaced by an 'ordinary member of the public' (confederate) in everyday clothes.
• Obedience rate dropped to 20%, lowest of them all.

Obedience Alibi

Control of Variables

• Mandel argues that situational variables offer an excuse or alibi for evil behaviour.
• It is offensive to survivors of the Holocaust to suggest Nazis were simply obeying orders due to situational factors beyond their control.

• Milgram systematically altered one variable at a time to see its effect on obedience.
• All the other procedures and variables stayed the same as the study was replicated over and over again.

Location

• In another variation, Milgram moved the location of the study from the university setting of Yale to a run down building.
• Obedience rate dropped to 47.5%.
• This may be because the experimenter had less authority.

Situational Variables

Proximity

• When the learner is in the same room as the teacher the obedience rate dropped from 65% to 40%.
• This is because the teacher experiences the learners pain more directly.
• If the teacher has to place the learner's hand onto the shock plate, obedience rate dropped to 30%.
• When the experimenter gives instructions over the phone, obedience rate dropped to 20.5%. Participants also frequently pretended to give shocks or gave weaker ones.

Procedure

• Participants were 40 male America volunteers.
• Told the study was about memory.
• The real participant was the 'teacher' whilst the two confederates were the 'learner' and 'experimenter'.
• Participants were told they could leave at any time.
• Teacher was asked to give the learner (in another room) an electric shock for every wrong answer.
• The learner mainly gave wrong answers and acted like he was being shocked, when he wasn't.
• After a 300 volts shock, the learner pounded against the wall and asked for it to stop then gave response.
• If the teacher asked to leave, the experimenter used a series of 'prods'.

Evaluation

Obedience

Good External Validity

Supporting Replication

Low Internal Validity

• It's argued the study has good external validity as the lab environment closely reflected wider authority relationships in real life.
• Hofling studied nurses on a hospital ward and found levels of obedience to unjustified demands by doctors were very high.

• A French gameshow called Le Jeu de la Mort paid contestants to shock other participants when instructed by a presenter.
• 80% of contestants delivered the maximum 'shock' and showed similar behaviour to Milgram's.
• This supports the fact Milgram's findings were not just a one-off chance.

• Orne and Holland claim the participants may have been well aware the learner wasn't actually in any real harm.
• This would affect the internal validity.
• Perry confirmed this when she listened to tapes of the participants and many of them reported doubts.
• Milgram reported that 70% of his participants said they believed the shocks were genuine.

Milgram

Social Identity Theory

Ethical Issues

• Deception
• Informed consent
• Protection from harm
• Right to withdraw

• Social identity theory states that the key to obedience lies in groups identification.
• When obedience fell, it was because the participant identified less with the experimenter and more with the victim.
• Haslam and Reicher looked at how a person behaved every time a prod was used.
• Only the 4th one demands obedience and is when the participant quits.

Findings

• Predicted nearly all participants would refuse to obey & very few would go beyond 150 volts.
• 65% participants delivered max voltage (450v) and all went to 300v.
• Qualitative data was obtained from participant responses such as sweating, lip biting and seizures.

Conclusions

Ethical Issues

• Ordinary people can be astonishingly obedient to authority even when required to act in an inhumane way.
• Suggesting it is not necessarily evil people that commit atrocities but it is ordinary people who just obey orders.
• It is situational rather then dispositional.
• An individual’s ability to make independent decisions is removed when they find themselves in a subordinate position within a powerful social hierarchy.

• Deception - Milgram led participants to believe that the electric shocks were real.
• Informed consent - As participants were deceived, they couldn't give their full informed consent.
• Protection from harm - Participants showed signs of extreme tension when told to shock the learner more.
• Right to withdraw - If the participant felt unsure about continuing, the experimenter gave the participant four prods to continue.