Obedience - Milgram’s Baseline study 1963
A type of social influence whereby someone acts in response to
direct orders from a perceived authority figure..
Destructive obedience - following an order from an authority
figure that has negative consequences on someone else
Aim - to establish a baseline measure of how obedient naïve
participants would be when ordered to administer increasingly
intense electric shocks to an innocent victim
The Experiment:
Sample of shock given to the naïve participant of 45
Preparation:
volts so they thought it was real
40 males between the ages of 20 and 50
Ranges from 15-450 volts and goes up by 15
Paid $4.50 an hour - $45 in todays money
4 prods - please continue, the experiment requires
Can withdraw at any time
that you continue, it is absolutely essential that you
3 participants - the student = confederate, (Mr
continue and you have no other choice; you must go
Wallace), the teacher = naïve participant and the
on
experimenter (Mr Williams)
300 volts - leaner would pound on door
The draw was rigged
315 volts - pound on door again then silence
Statistics:
Suffering of Participants:
65% went up to 450 vaults (fatal)
Trembling, stuttering and dug fingers into flesh
100% went up to 300 vaults
35% exhibited nervous laughter
12.5% dropped out
3 people had uncontrollable seizures
Afterwards, 84% said they were glad to have
participated
ordinary people are astonishingly obedient to authority when asked to behave
in inhumane ways. The social setting is a powerful determinate of behaviour.
An individuals capacity for making independent decisions is suspended under
certain situational constraints.
A type of social influence whereby someone acts in response to
direct orders from a perceived authority figure..
Destructive obedience - following an order from an authority
figure that has negative consequences on someone else
Aim - to establish a baseline measure of how obedient naïve
participants would be when ordered to administer increasingly
intense electric shocks to an innocent victim
The Experiment:
Sample of shock given to the naïve participant of 45
Preparation:
volts so they thought it was real
40 males between the ages of 20 and 50
Ranges from 15-450 volts and goes up by 15
Paid $4.50 an hour - $45 in todays money
4 prods - please continue, the experiment requires
Can withdraw at any time
that you continue, it is absolutely essential that you
3 participants - the student = confederate, (Mr
continue and you have no other choice; you must go
Wallace), the teacher = naïve participant and the
on
experimenter (Mr Williams)
300 volts - leaner would pound on door
The draw was rigged
315 volts - pound on door again then silence
Statistics:
Suffering of Participants:
65% went up to 450 vaults (fatal)
Trembling, stuttering and dug fingers into flesh
100% went up to 300 vaults
35% exhibited nervous laughter
12.5% dropped out
3 people had uncontrollable seizures
Afterwards, 84% said they were glad to have
participated
ordinary people are astonishingly obedient to authority when asked to behave
in inhumane ways. The social setting is a powerful determinate of behaviour.
An individuals capacity for making independent decisions is suspended under
certain situational constraints.
