Social area: Milgram

Question 1

What is the ‘germans are different’ hypothesis?

Answer 1

An idea which was assumed post ww2 that German’s had a character defect which made it possible for them to carry out the holocaust

Question 2

What was Milgram’s aim?

Answer 2

To investigate what level of obedience participants would go to when asked to deliver electric shocks to someone by an authority figure

Question 3

What was Milgram’s research method?

Answer 3

Lab experiment, Observation

Question 4

Describe the sample used in Milgram’s study

Answer 4

40 white males from New Haven aged 20-50 in varying ‘white collar’ jobs

Question 5

What sampling method did Milgram use?

Answer 5

Self selecting

Question 6

How did Milgram obtain his sample?

Answer 6

They responded to a newspaper ad which offered $4.50 just for showing up

Question 7

What is a weakness of Milgram’s original sample?

Answer 7

It didn’t include women and people over the age of 50

Question 8

What is a weakness of Milgram’s method of obtaining his sample?

Answer 8

Only a certain type of people will volunteer and therefore it isn’t representative of the general population

Question 9

What is a strength of Milgram’s sample?

Answer 9

Good sample size and represents the people in Germany at the time

Question 10

What is a strength of the way that Milgram obtained his sample?

Answer 10

He could tailor his advert to get p’s that suited his criteria

Question 11

What were participants told that the experiment was investigating?

Answer 11

The effect of punishment on memory and learning

Question 12

What role did the participant play?

Answer 12

Teacher

Question 13

Who was strapped into the chair?

Answer 13

The learner (a confederate)

Question 14

What were P’s told about the shocks?

Answer 14

That they were not harmful

Question 15

What was the strength of the sample shock that p’s received?

Answer 15

45V

Question 16

What was the name of the task that the learner had to complete?

Answer 16

Word-pair task

Question 17

What happened to the learner each time they got a question wrong?

Answer 17

They were administered an electric shock

Question 18

How much did the shocks increase each time the learner gave a wrong answer?

Answer 18

15V

Question 19

If the teacher showed some discomfort, how would the experimenter reply?

Answer 19

Using a ‘prod’

Question 20

Give an example of 2 of the prods used

Answer 20

‘Please continue’, ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’

Question 21

At what point did the experiment end?

Answer 21

When either 450V was reacher or the participant withdrew

Question 22

After the experiment had ended what happened?

Answer 22

P’s were debriefed and told the real nature of the experiment and were re-introduced to the learner who was in fact unharmed

Question 23

Give 3 controls used in Milgram’s study

Answer 23

Same reactions from the learner

Same responses given by the experimenter

Question 24

Where did the study take place?

Answer 24

Yale University

Question 25

What percentage of participants administered the shock of 300V?

Answer 25

100%

Question 26

What percentage of participants administered the final shock of 450V?

Answer 26

65%

Question 27

Throughout the experiment, P’s were showing signs of acute stress, give 3 examples of this

Answer 27

Sweating, stuttering, digging fingers into flesh

Question 28

Give on quote said by participants throughout the course of the experiment

Answer 28

‘Oh god, let’s stop it’

Question 29

What did Milgram conclude from his study?

Answer 29

That Germans are not different because white, middle class Americans are just as capable of inflicting harm as the Germans were in WW2

Question 30

Give 3 reasons why the participants displayed such high levels of obedience

Answer 30

Because…

1) Took part in prestigious uni
2) P felt obliged to complete the study as they were paid
3) The learner was willing to take part

Question 31

How did Milgram break the guideline of informed consent?

Answer 31

P’s weren’t aware of the true aims of the experiment, they had only consented to the memory and learning task

Question 32

How did Milgram break the guideline of withdrawal?

Answer 32

He did not allow P’s to withdraw and told P’s that they must continue

Question 33

How did Milgram break the guideline of protection from harm?

Answer 33

P’s were distressed and in 2 cases seizures occurred

Question 34

In what way did Milgram deceive the P’s?

Answer 34

He made them believe that they were causing harm to the learner, aims were also deceived

Question 35

Which 2 ethical guidelines did Milgram uphold?

Answer 35

Confidentiality and debrief

Question 36

Was Milgram’s study internally reliable? (standardised and replicable)

Answer 36

Yes - the procedure was repeated with 40 participants with clear controls and objective measures

Question 37

Was Milgram’s study externally reliable? (sample large enough to suggest consistent effect)

Answer 37

Yes - sample size of 40 would suggest a fairly consistent effect

Question 38

Was the study internally valid? (was it testing obedience)

Answer 38

Yes - there is no evidence that P’s had guessed the aims of the experiment (didn’t display demand characteristics

Question 39

To what extent was the study externally valid? (population validity)

Answer 39

Was only about male obedience and Americans and therefore we cannot generalise from this

Question 40

Was the study ecologically valid?

Answer 40

Not like real life however could be argued to be similar to the tasks faced by people in Nazi Germany