Aims: Milgram was sceptical about the idea that only strict authoritive figures could afflict the horrors seen during World War Two by the Nazis. He wanted to prove this view held by the general public wrong, by doing an obedience experiment to show that ordinary people of the general public could inflict harm on other human beings.
Procedures: 40 males aged 20-50 were recruited through a newspaper advertisement, and paid $4.50 to participate in a study regarding ’memory’. Participants were introduced to a confederate, Mr. Wallice. Lots were drawn to decide who would be the teacher and who would be the learner (the participant always became the teacher). The learner was strapped into a chair with electrodes on his hands.
The participant was to ask the learner questions, each incorrect answer was punished with an electric shock, beginning at 15 volts (very mild), going up by 15 volts for every incorrect answer up to 450 volts (danger - severe shock, xxx). The learner stated he had a mild heart condition.
Shocks were received in silence up until 300 volts, Mr. Wallice then complained of having heart trouble and pounded on the door to be let out. He then refused to answer any more questions. After a short while he became silent and was presumed unconscious or dead.
If the teachers questioned the experimenter (also a confederate), they were presented with four orders:
1. Please continue,
2. The experiment requires you to continue,
3. It is essential that you continue,
4. You have no choice, you must continue.
If the participant still refused to administer any more shocks, they were allowed to stop.
Unknown to the participant, the experimenter was an actor, as was the learner. The lots drawn to distinguish roles were fixed, and the electric shocks WERE NOT REAL.
Findings: Before the experiment began a class of psychology students were asked to estimate the percentage of participants who would continue giving shocks up to 450v, they estimated only 3%.
No one actually stopped below the level of intense shock. 22.5% stopped at 315v (extremely intense), 65% continued up until the maximum shock of 450v.
Participants showed extreme tension, biting fingernails, sweating, trembling, stuttering, groaning and three of the participants actually had full blown seizures.
During debriefing the participants completed a follow up questionnaire. 84% of them felt glad that they participated, 74% learnt something of personal importance.
Conclusion: Participants showed obedience to unjust authority beyond what anyone imagined. It showed how ordinary people could mindlessly obey orders to hurt another human being. The strengths of obedience and the tension created by social pressure were surprising.
Evaluation: It was UNETHICAL. Participants were recieved into believing it was a memory task, that the shocks were real and they did not have the right to withdraw or to give informed consent. They were also subjected to psychological harm. Milgram counteracts this argument by saying they were thoroughly debriefed and that from the questionnaire, they had been happy to have participated.
It lacked INTERNAL VALIDITY. The participants could not have belived the shocks were real. However Milgram states that from the results of the questionnaire, most participants believed in the setup.
It lacked EXTERNAL VALIDITY. This situation was unlikely to occur in everyday life therefore the participants acted in a different way to how they would usually act and the results could not be generalised to the real world. Though Milgram states that the participants clearly believed the situation was real (shown in video footage of the experiment) so the experiment had MUNDANE REALISM.
The participants could have been affected by OTHER FACTORS such as the prestigous environment.
There is vast CROSS-CULTURAL SUPPORT from further similar studies.
Other Points: Variations of this study has been carried out to investigate the effects of:
Environment,
Proximity to the victim,
Authoritive figures,
Social support and
Other factors have on the extent of obedience.作者: 幽幽草 时间: 2007-6-9 16:18 标题: 雅思阅读V42.S2电击试验相关材料-2
