Evaluate Milgram's variation 7 - telephonic instructions
The aim of Milgram's telephone instructions variation was to investigate whether the presence of the
authority figure is an important is an important factor on obedience levels. Milgram decides to
separate the participants from the experimenter and can only communicate through the telephone.
One strength of the procedure of variation 7 is there is subsequent research that has replicated this
finding. For example, Jackson (1990) New York Zoo study demonstrated that when the authority figure
is no longer present people have disobeyed orders that were given to them in the first place once they
move places as if the request has never been made. This highlights that Milgram's study on physical
proximity shows high levels of validity since it can be applied to naturalistic situations.
The findings show that only 9 out of 40 participants were obedience showing a 22.5% full obedience
in comparison to the baseline of 65% full obedience. Participants also lied on the phone about the
levels of shock they are administering where they mostly use the lowest shock on the machine.
Another strength of the study is it can explain situations in real-life. For example, in schools it helps
explain why students are most likely to not do their work when the teacher is not around this is due
to the lack of physical proximity which affects students' obedience. This highlights that the variation 7
study has good applications and is useful in making sure students should always have an authority
figure in present to ensure obedience. However, like Milgram’s original experiment, there is cultural
bias to the findings. His research was still carried out in America and therefore ethnocentric and this
is an issue because location may not have an impact on a person from a different culture, thus reducing
the generalisability.
In conclusion, Milgram's variation 7 study has its strengths such as having good validity of their findings
and it also helps explain real-life situations such as in school on why students tend to disobey orders
when there are no teachers around. However, it still has limitations that Milgram still did not take
account which is the cultural bias.
The aim of Milgram's telephone instructions variation was to investigate whether the presence of the
authority figure is an important is an important factor on obedience levels. Milgram decides to
separate the participants from the experimenter and can only communicate through the telephone.
One strength of the procedure of variation 7 is there is subsequent research that has replicated this
finding. For example, Jackson (1990) New York Zoo study demonstrated that when the authority figure
is no longer present people have disobeyed orders that were given to them in the first place once they
move places as if the request has never been made. This highlights that Milgram's study on physical
proximity shows high levels of validity since it can be applied to naturalistic situations.
The findings show that only 9 out of 40 participants were obedience showing a 22.5% full obedience
in comparison to the baseline of 65% full obedience. Participants also lied on the phone about the
levels of shock they are administering where they mostly use the lowest shock on the machine.
Another strength of the study is it can explain situations in real-life. For example, in schools it helps
explain why students are most likely to not do their work when the teacher is not around this is due
to the lack of physical proximity which affects students' obedience. This highlights that the variation 7
study has good applications and is useful in making sure students should always have an authority
figure in present to ensure obedience. However, like Milgram’s original experiment, there is cultural
bias to the findings. His research was still carried out in America and therefore ethnocentric and this
is an issue because location may not have an impact on a person from a different culture, thus reducing
the generalisability.
In conclusion, Milgram's variation 7 study has its strengths such as having good validity of their findings
and it also helps explain real-life situations such as in school on why students tend to disobey orders
when there are no teachers around. However, it still has limitations that Milgram still did not take
account which is the cultural bias.
