• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

SA - Milgram - 1963

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

SOCIAL APPROACH Milgram - 1963 Aim of study: * To investigate what level of obedience participants would show when an authority figure told them to administer electric shocks to another person. Participants: Obtained from advertisements + direct mailing. Self selected or volunteer sample. * 40 males: 20-50 yrs old from New Haven area in the United Stated of America. * Job ranges Included: postal clerks, HS teachers, salesmen, labourers, engineers, etc. * Education: one had not finished HS to some who a have degree + qualification in various subjects. * Paid: $4.50 regardless of what happened after and before they arrived. This is called COERCIAN. Method and Design: * Method: Lab experiment. * Observer observed participants for signs of tension/nervousness: "sweat, tremble, biting of lips, nervous laughter" I.V./D.V. * I.V. - There was NO I.V. * D.V. - Level of obedience; how far they'd go with the voltage to shock the learner. ...read more.

Middle

Example: "please continue", "this experiment requires that you continue". Controls: * Standardised deception. * Cover story. * Slips of paper drawn (pre-determined teacher). * Learner strapped. * Standardised prods used by experimenter. Results: (overall %) * 65% of ppts continued to shock until 450 volts. * Only 35% stopped before. * 22.5% stopped at 300 volts. * Many showed signed of nervousness and extreme tension. * 14 displayed nervous laughter; 3 had uncontrollable seizures. Conclusion: * Very high rate of obedience - 65%. Milgram explained this as being so high because it's a strong part of human society. * Milgram said: "Many situational factors which lead to high rate of obedience. E.g. - Environment of lab = formal. Yale Uni = prestigious. - Verbal prods from experimenter. - Distance of the learner. - Proximity of the experimenter. (AGENTIC STATE: Individuals give up their own responsibility, deferring to those of higher status.) ...read more.

Conclusion

- High - Real-like conditions of n**i Germany WW2. * Reliability - * Sample - 40 males: 20-50 yrs old from New Haven area (USA). Range of education backgrounds. * - Ad. - Range of age/ education/ socio-economic status. - Dis. - All from same area. (New Haven, USA) - All male + white. - Hard to generalise to other cultures/ places. * Ethics - Dis. - Coercion - Paying. - Psychological harm - May leave ppt shocked that they damaged someone so badly. - Offer counselling. - Deception - Debrief. * Type of Data - Quantitative - 65% - 450 volts + 35% reluctant. Ad. - Easier to analyse. Dis. - Loss of rich data. - Qualitative - Observations + Interviews + Photograph + Filming Ad. - Rich data. Dis. - Harder to analyse. * Personality/Situation - Mainly situation - Prestigious uni, formal setting. - Resist authority (Personality) - Job, religious beliefs. * Applications - Useful in training - people services - police/ambulance. * One Change - Sample - More nationalities. - Contemporary data. ?? ?? ?? ?? ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Social Psychology section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

3 star(s)

3* Starts off with reasonable description in a research report format. Later brief notes towards the end are too brief to add much to the essay. Reasonable level of understanding and some evaluation.

Marked by teacher Stephanie Duckworth 10/09/2013

Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level Social Psychology essays

  1. Marked by a teacher

    The effect of the Level of Processing on the amount of information recalled

    4 star(s)

    Participants were also told about how confidentiality was maintained, they were asked not to write their name on the answer sheet, as their results were anonymous. In addition, they were also told they could contact the experimenter if they wished to know the results of the study, or if they wished for their data to be destroyed.

  2. Evaluation of Milgram's Obedience Study

    All experimenters should always debrief their participants after an experiment so that they know that they didn't do anything wrong. Participants should always leave in the same frame of mind with which they came. Baumrind accused Milgram of not debriefing his participants well enough.

  1. The Concepts Of Conformity And Obedience

    The three people probably didn't even consider themselves to be a group. Also, there was no right or wrong answer, Asch criticised the way it was an ambiguous task, Sherif told them that he was going to move the light, so they were more likely to change their minds anyway.

  2. To what extent do Social and Media factors influence Criminal Behaviour?

    First of all they gave students in a class an IQ test, but they selected students at random, irrespective of their IQ results. They told their teacher that they were about to 'spurt' and when they tested them at the end of the year they found that those "identified" had all improved.

  1. Obedience & Conformity: The Situation In Abu Ghraib

    ??our opponents are stupid or evil??. (Henry Gleitman et al, 2007) Obedience in Abu Ghraib Psychologists have tried to find an explanation to how obedience occurs in situations like Abu Ghraib or genocides. They tried to explain obedience with two difference approaches; one approach is based on the intuitively appealing

  2. Milgram, Hoffling and Zimbardo. Critically Consider the Psychological Factors Influencing Obedience to Authority ...

    A total of 14 participants defied the experimenter, and 26 obeyed. Overall, 65% of the participants gave shocks up to 450 volts (obeyed) and 35% stopped sometime before 450 volts. With few exceptions, participants were convinced of the reality of the situation.

  1. Conformity and Obedience - Related Studies and Their Relevance in Modern Society.

    The naïve participants were always last but one to answer. In 12 of 18 trials the confederates gave a unanimous incorrect answer, these 12 trials were called the critical trials. Participants conformed on 32 per cent of the critical trials, 74 per cent of participants conformed at least once and no participant conformed on all of the critical trials.

  2. Conformity and Obedience Essay

    Where people are put into an uncomfortable situation and are unable to assess the correct way in which to deal with this situation they tend to look to someone that they believe is more knowledgeable than they are.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work