Milgram's Obedience Experiment (1963)

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Milgram's Obedience Experiment (1963)

• Soleil Mcghee
• Dita Henderson
• Eleanor Thomas

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Theory

•  Wanted to see if Germans, at the time of the
  Second World War, were more obedient and
  conformed to authorities figures in comparison to
  other ethnical races, ie. if the German race had
  a trait which allowed them to support the Nazi
  Holocaust more so than another race would have.

Hypothesis

• People respond to and obey authority figures even
  if it is against their own moral beliefs.

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The Research Design

• How the research and data were collected and
  gathered
• Took place in a Yale University call room but
  soon moved to downtown Bridgeport (variation 10)
• Taking place from 1963 up to about 1974
• A flier promoting a Study of Memory promised a
  four dollar pay and 50 cents for a bus ride if
  one volunteered an hour of their time
• The experiment would get a different variety of
  people and not a generic mould.
• Independent variable- the direct link to the
  voltage change from them participant and the
  prodding from the examiner to the participant.
• Dependent variable- the degree of to which the
  participant obeyed the authoritative figure.

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The Research Design

•  This experiment required a number of props such
  as
• Lab coat- to show authoritative power
• Shock generator- which had a number of switches
  that determined the voltage given to the
  learner
• Confidant- the experiment also required a
  confidant because the teacher (Mr Wallace) was
  part of the experimental team and only posed as a
  participant.
• Debriefing told participants the truth about the
  real hypothesis and how the entire experiment was
  scripted and pre-planned after experiment took
  place
• After a year the experimenter did a follow up to
  check for any psychological damage and 84 of
  participants said that they were glad to have
  taken part in this experiment.

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The Procedure

• 1. Participants arrived and were greeted by a man
  named Jake Williams, who was wearing a grey lab
  coat. (This was to show the participants that he
  was an authoritative figure)
• 2. Everything that happened after this point was
  pre-planned, staged, and scripted. (Except to the
  degree to which the participants obeyed the
  experimenters instructions.)
• 3. The participants were told that they were
  taking part in an experiment that was about the
  effects of punishment on learning.
• 4. Mr. Wallace, one of the experimenters, posed
  as a volunteer participant and joined in with the
  others who were taking part.
• 5. From there they were told that one participant
  would be a teacher and one would be the learner.
  The roles where determined by picking names from
  a hat (although both slips of paper were labeled
  Teachers) Mr. Wallace picked a name first and
  clearly read out learner so the actual
  volunteer was guaranteed to be the teacher.

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The Procedure

• 6.The teacher was given a 45-volt shock to
  convince him it was a true experiment, and told
  that the shocks might be painful but do not cause
  permanent tissue damage. (This was the only real
  shock given though out the whole experiment.)
• 7. It was said that no answer to a question is
  counted as incorrect.
• 8. Mr. Wallace then was strapped with electrodes
  (the shock generator)
• 9. The shock generator was clearly marked with 15
  different voltages that were also clearly marked
  with a verbal description of the effect. IE.)
  Volt-45 Dangerously intense.
• 10. There were scripted phrases from the
  experimenter to encourage the learner at set
  points (eg. please go on, you have no other
  choice - you must go on)

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Procedure

• 11. The experimenter was to read out a series of
  words, which were then followed by 5 words of
  which one was said earlier. The learners had a
  panel of 4 switches, from which he could answer
  and depending on if was right or wrong a light
  would go off on the generator.
• 12. Each time the leaner made a mistake the
  teacher would punish him with a shock 15-volts
  higher.
• 13. After the experiment has taken place they
  debrief the Teacher volunteer and tell them the
  experiment was all preplanned and scripted, and
  describe what they were really looking for. After
  a year the examiners do a follow up of the
  participants to see if there is any lasting
  psychological damage

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The Variations

• 14. There were different variations to this
  experiment.
• Variation 1- the teacher and leaner would be
  placed in different room and the only
  interactions between the two would come from the
  experimenter, the learner would pound on the wall
  at 300V, and at 315 V he would no longer answer
  the experimenter's questions
• Variation 2 - the teacher's room is equipped with
  a (pre-recorded) sound system which allows voice
  feedback, at 75, 90, and 105 V the learner
  grunts, at 120V the learner says it has started
  getting painful, at 135V he gives out pained
  groans, at 150V he starts asking to be let go, at
  180V the learner says he can't stand the pain, at
  270V he lets out an agonized scream, at 300V he
  says he wil no longer provide answers, at 315
  Volts he screams that he is no longer
  participating, and at 330V there is silence
• Variation 3 - the learner was moved into the same
  room as the teacher, within about 1.5 feet of him

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Variations

• Variation 4 - the teacher had to force the
  learner's hand down onto the shock plate for
  every wrong answer
•     
• Variation 7 - the instructions from the
  experimenter were given by phone
• Variation 10 - the experiment was moved from Yale
  University to a downtown office
• Variation 17 - two other teachers were present
  (scripted to leave at 150V and 210V)
• Variation 18 - the teacher was only required to
  read the words, not press the button on the shock
  generator

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The Results

• VARIATION RESULTS
• what of participants went until 450 Volts
• Variation 1- 65 450 V
• Variation 2- 62.5 450 V
• Variation 3 - 40 450V
• Variation 4 - 30 450V
• Variation 7 - 20.5 450V
• Variation 10 - 47.5 450 V
• Variation 17 - 10 450V
• Variation 18 - 92.5 450V

...sweat, stutter, tremble, groan, bite their
lips and dig their nails into their flesh.
Full-blown, uncontrollable seizures were observed
for three subjects. (Milgram, 1974)

• had predictions from 14 psychology students
• guessed few would break off early on, most   
     would stop somewhere in the middle, few would
  continue on to 450 V
• had predictions from 40 psychiatrists
• less than one percent would go to the highest
  voltage
• expectations proven wrong

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The Results
HOW? if personal responsibility is taken away
(experimenter says theyre responsible) then its
easier for the people they've been told it will
hurt but wont cause permanent tissue damage, so
they feel better about it...
A substantial proportion of people do what they
are told to do irrespective of the content of the
act and without limitations of conscience, so
long as they perceive that the command comes from
a legitimate authority (Milgram 1974)
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Ecological Validity

• The main idea of this experiment was to explore
  the obedience in humans in order to understand
  better why people listened to the Nazi orders
  during WWII.
• Because of this, the experiment was aimed to have
  the most ecological validity it could, including
  being a natural experiment in an office.
• The people were "deceived" and not told what was
  the real goal of the experiment, so they would
  reach as they would in a normal situation with an
  authoritative figure.
• The only aspect of this experiment that wouldn't
  hold much ecological validity would be the
  pressing of the button to hurt the learner, as in
  a real-life situation there would be a wider
  range of opportunities to hurt someone.

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Evaluation

• Strengths
• Variationsplacement of people (same room,
  different room, touching the person)sound
  feedbackinstructions not given in person - by
  the phonemoved from Yale University to a
  downtown officetwo other teachers were
  presentonly required to read words, no press
  button on shock generatorhad women at one
  variationdebriefing, check up for
  damagescripted phrases to continuescripted
  responses from learnerconvinced teacher its a
  legitimate experiment with 45V sample
  shockexperimenter always wore grey lab coat -
  authority

• Weaknesses
• no control group originallyonly used women in
  one experimenta less dramatic situation might be
  perceived as less applicable to the real
  worldethical standards evolve, so it probably
  wouldnt be allowed todaydeception can be used
  to an extent but debriefing is needed

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Evaluation

• Limits
• is it a comprehensive test of the us population
  if it is only a cross-section of new haven?
• if there was no graduation of demands from an ad
  for a study of learning and memory to a
  potentially lethal shock - people would respond
  differently
• socialization - obedience is conditioned from a
  young age by parents and teachers
• those who went up to 450V could say
• the learner can be held responsible for what is
  happening to them - less responsibility from
  teacher
• teachers can have authoritarian characters
• teachers can be less advanced in moral
  development
• if people in experiment arent especially
  sadistic or obedient then it depends on the
  situation rather than the person

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Ethical Issues

• Insensitive to suffering of subjects
• Deception is used lacks informed consent,
  participants dont know what is actually
  happening in the experiment.
• Baumrind argued that the rights and feeling of
  participants had been abused as extreme stress
  was suffered by participants and their
  psychological wellbeing was not looked after
• Yale had no participation but was named on the
  fliers advertising the experiment, and therefore
  ensued fake assuredness

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Could it be carried out today?

• Probably would not be approved today
  perceived benefits of research cannot be used to
  justify causing harm to research subjects
• Its frowned upon not because people actually
  hurt people, but that they were willing to go to
  450volts and willing to potentially kill someone,
  it is more emotional criticism about the
  implications rather than ethics.

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Why is this a classic study?

• This has become a classic study because it
  demonstrates the dangers and limitations of
  obedience.
• It also shows that obedience is mostly influenced
  by the social setting and the situation rather
  than the personality of the individual. 

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Sources

• Richard Gross. Psychology The Science of Mind and
  Behaviour. London Hodder and Stoughton
  Educational, 2001.