Milgram’s research – Obedience
Obedience = form of social influence in which an individual follows a
direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority
who has power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming.
Obedience is a natural response of citizens in any hierarchically
organised society.
Aim:
1) To test the extent to which people will obey an authority figure even
when it went against one’s moral code.
(He wanted to find out if ordinary American citizens would obey an
unjust order from an authority figure and inflict pain on another
person because they were instructed to.)
2) To test the “Germans are different” hypothesis. (obedience level of
Germans)
Procedures:
o Recruited 40 male participants through newspaper adverts and
flyers in the post from a range of occupations and backgrounds.
o The ad said he was conducting a memory study - the teacher had to
test the learner on their ability to remember word pairs.
o 15 – 450 volts, went up in 15 volt increments every time student got
answer wrong.
o Ppts were aged between 20-50 years old and jobs ranged from
unskilled to professional.
o Offered $4.50 to take part.
o Paid the money at the outset and there was a rigged draw for the
role of teacher or student – the ppt always got the role of teacher
and “student” was played by a confederate (Mr Wallace). The
teacher could hear the student but couldn’t see them.
o There was an experimenter (confederate) dressed in a lab coat
played by an actor.
o Teacher was required to give increasingly severe electric shocks
each time the learner made a mistake – after the 300 V shock,
learners were no longer silent and pounded on the wall in pain from
the fake shocks.
o When the ppt objected, experimenter gave 4 verbal “prods” to
encourage them to continue.
1) “Please continue”
2) “The experiment requires that you continue”
3) “It is absolutely essential that you continue”
4) “You have no choice; you must go on”.
Escalates from a request to a command, more forceful. First 3
increased obedience, Last one made them disobedient (First 3
, focus on ppt contributing due to the aims of science, Final one
shifts responsibility on teacher – realise their choice)
o To convince the shocks are real, they gave ppts 45-volt shock to
prove machine is real.
Findings:
o No ppts stopped below 300 volts.
o 12.5% (5ppts) stopped at 300 volts, 65% continued to the highest
level of 450 volts.
o Qualitative data was collected e.g. through observations it was
found that ppts showed signs of extreme tension such as sweating,
trembling, stuttering, biting lips, groaning and digging their
fingernails intro their hands.
o 3 ppts had full-blown uncontrollable seizures.
o Prior to the study Milgram had 14 psychology students predict the
results – they said no more than 3% would continue to 450 volts.
o All ppts were debriefed and assured that their behaviour was
normal. They were also sent a follow-up questionnaire and 74% said
they were glad to have participated.
Conclusion:
o Germans are a different hypothesis – false. All ppts were 40 ordinary
American men. Their high levels of obedience show that all people
show obedience to higher authority figures.
o Most people would obey an authority figure even when it went
against one’s moral code.
o Certain situational factors encourage obedience.
Evaluation:
Obedience = form of social influence in which an individual follows a
direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority
who has power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming.
Obedience is a natural response of citizens in any hierarchically
organised society.
Aim:
1) To test the extent to which people will obey an authority figure even
when it went against one’s moral code.
(He wanted to find out if ordinary American citizens would obey an
unjust order from an authority figure and inflict pain on another
person because they were instructed to.)
2) To test the “Germans are different” hypothesis. (obedience level of
Germans)
Procedures:
o Recruited 40 male participants through newspaper adverts and
flyers in the post from a range of occupations and backgrounds.
o The ad said he was conducting a memory study - the teacher had to
test the learner on their ability to remember word pairs.
o 15 – 450 volts, went up in 15 volt increments every time student got
answer wrong.
o Ppts were aged between 20-50 years old and jobs ranged from
unskilled to professional.
o Offered $4.50 to take part.
o Paid the money at the outset and there was a rigged draw for the
role of teacher or student – the ppt always got the role of teacher
and “student” was played by a confederate (Mr Wallace). The
teacher could hear the student but couldn’t see them.
o There was an experimenter (confederate) dressed in a lab coat
played by an actor.
o Teacher was required to give increasingly severe electric shocks
each time the learner made a mistake – after the 300 V shock,
learners were no longer silent and pounded on the wall in pain from
the fake shocks.
o When the ppt objected, experimenter gave 4 verbal “prods” to
encourage them to continue.
1) “Please continue”
2) “The experiment requires that you continue”
3) “It is absolutely essential that you continue”
4) “You have no choice; you must go on”.
Escalates from a request to a command, more forceful. First 3
increased obedience, Last one made them disobedient (First 3
, focus on ppt contributing due to the aims of science, Final one
shifts responsibility on teacher – realise their choice)
o To convince the shocks are real, they gave ppts 45-volt shock to
prove machine is real.
Findings:
o No ppts stopped below 300 volts.
o 12.5% (5ppts) stopped at 300 volts, 65% continued to the highest
level of 450 volts.
o Qualitative data was collected e.g. through observations it was
found that ppts showed signs of extreme tension such as sweating,
trembling, stuttering, biting lips, groaning and digging their
fingernails intro their hands.
o 3 ppts had full-blown uncontrollable seizures.
o Prior to the study Milgram had 14 psychology students predict the
results – they said no more than 3% would continue to 450 volts.
o All ppts were debriefed and assured that their behaviour was
normal. They were also sent a follow-up questionnaire and 74% said
they were glad to have participated.
Conclusion:
o Germans are a different hypothesis – false. All ppts were 40 ordinary
American men. Their high levels of obedience show that all people
show obedience to higher authority figures.
o Most people would obey an authority figure even when it went
against one’s moral code.
o Certain situational factors encourage obedience.
Evaluation:
