Stanley Milgram – Study On Obedience (Compliance) |
[A] |
Investigating the effect of authority on compliance and obedience. |
[P] |
- Subjects were 40 males, age range from 20 to 50, found through newspaper advert.
- Subjects were led to believe that the experiment was investigating the effect of punishment on learning.
- They were given the role of the “teacher” through a fixed lottery.
- They saw the learner (which is an actor) in real life, strapped to a chair connected with an electrode.
- The experimenter took the subject to another room and told them to apply an electric shock by pressing the button whenever the learner gets a question wrong.
- The experimenter wore a grey lab coat.
- The “teacher” was given a test shock of 45 volts.
- At certain voltages, different vocal feedback was given through a recorded system. After 315 volts, no response was given.
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[F] |
- 65% of the subjects continued on to the maximum 450 volts.
- No one stopped before 300 volts.
- Subjects were observed to show signs of stress (e.g. sweat, tremble, biting their lips).
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[C] |
- Subjects displayed compliance because of the authority figure (the experimenter in the grey lab coat).
- Compliance, not conformity. Because it is evident that the subjects did not internalise the idea of giving shock.
- When subjects were asked to electrocute a puppy, level of obedience increased.
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[E] |
- Ecological validity: Low, lab environment.
- Culture bias: Unrepresentative sample, all subjects were from the US.
- Other researchers replicated the study in other countries.
- Findings can then be generalised.
- Caused distress in subjects.
- They were told “you have no choice but to carry on” but in actual fact subjects had the right to leave.
- Subjects were deceived to thinking that they were actually giving out electric shocks.
- They were then debriefed, and showed that the learner was unharmed.
- Gender bias: Only male subjects used initially. In later replicates, female subjects and “victim” were also used.
- When a female “victim” was used, level of obedience reduced.
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