Obedience AK

Obedience to authority, whether individuals would obey an authority figure even if causing harm to innocent victims given the right situational factors

Method of sampling - volunteer sampling
40 Male participants, all american
Age of participants - 25-40

Sample (milgram)

Newspaper ad, 4 dollars an hour, "a study on memory and learning"

How were participants recruited?

Naive participants (teachers) were instructed by the authority figure (the experimenter) to adminster increasingly intense electric shocks to confederates (learners).

The experimenter and teacher sat in one room with shock generator
They could not see the learner, who sat in a separate room strapped to an electric chair
Milgram watched everything through a one-way mirror.

The role of the “Experimenter” was taken by a stern biology teacher in a lab coat called “Mr Williams"

1. Mr. Wallace
2. A 47-year-old Irish-American accountant
3. After a faked draw, Mr Wallace became the “Learner” and the naïve participant became the “Teacher"

45 volts

The Teacher felt a __V shock to “prove” that the electric chair was real

1. Went from slight shock, to danger severe shock (in red) and XXX
2, labels were made to clearly imply that the shocks were dangerous
3. Raised in intervals of 15V (from 15V to 450V)

At 300V the Learner banged on the wall and stopped answering.
What did this imply to the teacher? That the "student" was unconcious/severely harmed

Please continue.
The experiment requires you to continue.
It is absolutely essential that you continue.
You have no other choice but to continue.

Milgram's study involved allocating a role of a teacher to volunteer particpants using a draw (it adds fake fairness to the experiment making the participant feel that the learner is also an innocent victim, making it even harder to electrocute). Placed in a room with shock generator and experimenter, learner audible but not visible. Whenever learner gave wrong answer, instructed to increase shock by 15V (15-> 450). Standardized prompts were used to make the participant continue when hesitation was shown. The experiment ended when either 4 prods exhausted/participant went to maximum voltage thrice.


room layout, drawing slips, shock increase at wrong answer, standard prompts

The experiment ended when either 4 prods exhausted/participant went to maximum voltage thrice.

100%

300 V

65%

Milgram collected qualitative data in the form of signs of anxiety.
1. sweating
2. trembling
3.stuttering
4. hysterical laughter

No answerr, read mindmap carefully

The Milgram experiment concluded that ordinary people are surprisingly willing to obey an authority figure and inflict severe harm on others when pressured by situational forces and go against their own conscience/moral beliefs. It does not account for individual differences.