AS level Psychology The core studies The Social Approach

Social Psychology The MILGRAM Experiment

Social Context WW2 ended in 1945 The behaviour of the German people during the the holocaust The Nurenberg trials The article by Hannah Arendt Eichmann 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) 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 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?