AS level PsychologyThe core studiesThe Social Approach

Social PsychologyThe MILGRAM Experiment

Social ContextWW2 ended in 1945

• The behaviour of the German people during the the holocaust

• The Nurenberg trials• The article by Hannah ArendtEichmann in Jerusalem : a report

on the banality of evil

Milgram's Questions ...

• Why do we obey authority?

• What conditions foster obedience?

• What conditions foster independent behaviour?

Milgram's hypotheses ...

• That American people would not obey orders that led to them harming another person

• That ‘German men’ are different to American men

Milgram’s method

• A LAB experiment at YALE University

• there was NO IV

• could be called a ‘non naturalistic’ observation

Milgram’s participants

• A self selecting (volunteer) sample– (answered advertisements asking for help with Yale

university research into memory & learning)

• 40 20 - 50 year old men• They were paid $4 for one hour of their time

Milgram’s advertisement

You can see that a wide range of

occupations were sampled

The Procedure• The participant was paired with

a colleague of Milgram (the stooge was Mr Wallace)

• Told they were taking part in an experiment on Memory / Learning

• Electric Shock machine– slight/severe/danger of severe shock

• Volts ranged between 15 - 450 volts

The Procedure• The participant (teacher) given a mild 15v electric shock• Then stooge wired up to the electric shock machine in

next room• The experiment began

The TASK

• Teacher read series of word pairs – e.g. blue sky, green grass, red balloon

• Learner had to memorise these• Teacher then reads out one word

– e.g. Green …..• Learner to respond with the ‘pair match’

The TASK

If a mistake was made

• Teacher told to give electric shock to learner

• Rising by 15 volts each mistake from 15 volts to 450 volts

What happened?

• The participants shook, trembled, and sweated• They were pressed to continue

– “You must go on”– “The experiment is important” – “Please continue”

Read your text book and notes FOR MORE INFO...

What happened?

• The learner shouted and yelled

• He could be heard through the wall

• He remained silent after 300 volts

How many went to 450 volts?

• 65% of participants went to 450 volts!

• 26 of the 40 participants would have followed orders and killed the stooge for making too many mistakes!

Remembering Methodology ….

• What was the dependent variable?

• The level of obedience measured by the voltage of the electric shock that was given

Was this experiment ethical?

• What do you think?

• If you were a member of an Ethics committee would you allow Milgram to repeat this study?

• Why or why not?

Did the ends justify the means?

• Was the knowledge gained worth the pain of the participants?

• How can we decide this question?• Who should decide this question?