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AQA PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1 2024
WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
What is obedience? - ✔✔A form of social influence in which an individual follows a
direct order from a figure of authority.
What was Milgram's (1964) study? - ✔✔Milgram (1964) sought an answer to why such a
high proportion of the German population obeyed Hitler's commands to murder over 6
million Jews in the Holocaust and other social groups during WW2.
Procedure: 40 US men were given the role of TEACHER through a fixed draw - ordered
to administer (fake) electric shocks to LEARNER (confederate) by an EXPERIMENTER,
increased by 15 volts with each mistake made on memory task - reaching 450 volts.
Findings: no ppts stopped before 300 volts and 65% went all the way to 450 volts. Many
showed signs of stress, most objected by continued anyways (qualitative observations).
Findings were unexpected - 14 students introspectively predicted that no more than 3%
of the participants would continue to 450 volts.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
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Conclusion: 'German people are NOT different' - US ppts obeyed even when they knew
they might harm another person.
Evaluate Milgram's (1964) study: - ✔✔Ethical issues - ppts were deceived. They thought
that the allocation of roes was random, but it was predetermined. They also thought the
shocks were real. Milgram dealt with this by debriefing participants. However,
Baumrind (1964) criticised Milgram for deceiving his participants - lasting
psychological consequences for ppts and researchers.
Research support - findings were replicated in a French documentary (Le Jeu de la
Mort) - their behaviour was almost identical to that of Milgram's ppts - nervous
laughter, nail-biting and other signs of anxiety. Supports Milgram's findings about
obedience to authority, and demonstrated that the findings were NOT just due to
special circumstances.
Low internal validity - may not have been testing what it was meant to be - Milgram
said 75% of ppts said they believed the shocks were genuine/Orne and Holland (1968)
argued that ppts were 'play-acting'. This suggests that ppts may have been responding
to demand characteristics, trying to fulfil the aims of the study.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
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What are situational variables? - ✔✔Features of the environments that may influence a
person's behaviour.
What situational variables did Milgram investigate? - ✔✔Proximity: (Baseline -
TEACHER could hear the LEARNER but not see him) Obedience rate dropped from
65% to 40% when the LEARNER and TEACHER were in the same room. Proximity
means that the TEACHER cannot psychologically distance themselves from the
consequences of their actions.
Location: (Baseline -conducted in the prestigious setting of Yale University) Obedience
rate dropped to 47.5 % when conducted in a run-down office building. The
prestigiousness of Yale University gave the setting more credibility and legitimacy.
Uniform: (Baseline - EXPERIMENTER wore a lab coat) Obedience rate dropped to 20%
when EXPERIMENTER'S role was taken over by an ordinary member of the public.
Uniform is a symbol of legitimate authority.
Evaluate situational variables - ✔✔Cross-cultural replications - Meeus and Raaijmakers
(1896) used a more realistic procedure than Milgram to study obedience in Dutch ppts.
In an interview, 90% obeyed the confederates. Replicated Milgram's proximity findings
- when the confederate was not present, obedience decreased. This suggests that
Milgram's findings are not just limited to the US.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
AQA PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1 2024
WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
What is obedience? - ✔✔A form of social influence in which an individual follows a
direct order from a figure of authority.
What was Milgram's (1964) study? - ✔✔Milgram (1964) sought an answer to why such a
high proportion of the German population obeyed Hitler's commands to murder over 6
million Jews in the Holocaust and other social groups during WW2.
Procedure: 40 US men were given the role of TEACHER through a fixed draw - ordered
to administer (fake) electric shocks to LEARNER (confederate) by an EXPERIMENTER,
increased by 15 volts with each mistake made on memory task - reaching 450 volts.
Findings: no ppts stopped before 300 volts and 65% went all the way to 450 volts. Many
showed signs of stress, most objected by continued anyways (qualitative observations).
Findings were unexpected - 14 students introspectively predicted that no more than 3%
of the participants would continue to 450 volts.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
,2|Page
Conclusion: 'German people are NOT different' - US ppts obeyed even when they knew
they might harm another person.
Evaluate Milgram's (1964) study: - ✔✔Ethical issues - ppts were deceived. They thought
that the allocation of roes was random, but it was predetermined. They also thought the
shocks were real. Milgram dealt with this by debriefing participants. However,
Baumrind (1964) criticised Milgram for deceiving his participants - lasting
psychological consequences for ppts and researchers.
Research support - findings were replicated in a French documentary (Le Jeu de la
Mort) - their behaviour was almost identical to that of Milgram's ppts - nervous
laughter, nail-biting and other signs of anxiety. Supports Milgram's findings about
obedience to authority, and demonstrated that the findings were NOT just due to
special circumstances.
Low internal validity - may not have been testing what it was meant to be - Milgram
said 75% of ppts said they believed the shocks were genuine/Orne and Holland (1968)
argued that ppts were 'play-acting'. This suggests that ppts may have been responding
to demand characteristics, trying to fulfil the aims of the study.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
, 3|Page
What are situational variables? - ✔✔Features of the environments that may influence a
person's behaviour.
What situational variables did Milgram investigate? - ✔✔Proximity: (Baseline -
TEACHER could hear the LEARNER but not see him) Obedience rate dropped from
65% to 40% when the LEARNER and TEACHER were in the same room. Proximity
means that the TEACHER cannot psychologically distance themselves from the
consequences of their actions.
Location: (Baseline -conducted in the prestigious setting of Yale University) Obedience
rate dropped to 47.5 % when conducted in a run-down office building. The
prestigiousness of Yale University gave the setting more credibility and legitimacy.
Uniform: (Baseline - EXPERIMENTER wore a lab coat) Obedience rate dropped to 20%
when EXPERIMENTER'S role was taken over by an ordinary member of the public.
Uniform is a symbol of legitimate authority.
Evaluate situational variables - ✔✔Cross-cultural replications - Meeus and Raaijmakers
(1896) used a more realistic procedure than Milgram to study obedience in Dutch ppts.
In an interview, 90% obeyed the confederates. Replicated Milgram's proximity findings
- when the confederate was not present, obedience decreased. This suggests that
Milgram's findings are not just limited to the US.
Katelyn Whitman© 2025, All Rights Reserved.
