Studies into Obedience: Milgram (1962)

How far will people go in the name of

obedience?

Aim

To investigate how obedient people would be in a situation where following orders would mean breaking participants’ moral codes and harming another person ‘Germans are

different’ hypothesis. Milgram set out to test whether Germans have a basic character flaw which is a readiness to obey authority without question.

Method 40 male participants aged

20-50 The participant arrives and is

met by the experimenter, a man dressed in a lab coat, and another ‘participant’ (stooge).

The experimenter explains the experiment to both of them – Memory.

The experimenter takes two pieces of paper and places them in a hat. One piece of paper is supposed to say “Teacher”, the other “Learner”.

Participant will always be the Teacher.

The Task Memory Test If a mistake was

made the Teacher was told to give electric shock to learner

Rising by 15 volts each mistake from 15 volts to 450 volts (fatal).

The Learner shouted through the wall in pain. Many participants looked stressed and asked

to stop the experiment. They were pressed to continue

› “You must go on”› “The experiment requires you to continue”

After 300 volts the Learner went

silent.

Results

65% of participants went to 450 volts! 26 of the 40 participants would have

followed orders and killed the stooge for making too many mistakes!

What % of participants do you think would deliver the full (and fatal)

450volt shock?

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Milgram’s reflections

“The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act." (1974)