Social Psychology

Obedience
 What is Obedience?
‘To follow an order given by a person
with recognised authority over you.’

 Obedience has often been blamed for

ordinary people committing horrible
acts
Background
 ‘From 1939 to 1945 millions
of innocent persons were
slaughtered on command’
(Milgram, 1963 asked:
 What are the causes of such
behaviour?
 Is it in the person or is it
the situation that they find
themselves in?
 ‘Behavioural Study of Obedience to Male
violent Authority’ (Milgram ,1963)

Aim of the study

 Milgram wanted to see if volunteer

participants would obey orders to

give electric shocks to someone they
thought was just another participant
 He wanted to answer the question

‘How far would they go?’.

procedure

 He recruited via newspaper

advertisement (40 volunteers)
 Expenses and a fee paid was ($4.00)

 Got a wide variety of backgrounds

 Participants were informed study

was about memory and learning and
effects of punishment on learning
 Procedure
 Slips of paper taken from hat to determine who
would be teacher – fixed lottery
- both slips given to participants had “teacher”
written on it
The experiment involved 3 people:
 Experimenter

Grey or white lab coat as a

symbol of authority
 Teacher

Naïve participant
 Learner

Stooge or confederate (knew all about study)

 Procedure
 Learner strapped into ‘electric chair’
 Teacher given ‘sample shock’ (45v) Ouch!

 The teacher was to ask the learner questions

 
relating to word-pairs –teacher told that every
mistake the learner made, the voltage must
be increased
                                                                                                                                         
 Procedure (cont.)
 If participants asked about the shocks:
“Although the shocks may be painful, there is no
permanent tissue damage”
 Teacher reads out pairs of words
 Student must respond to stimulus correctly to
avoid punishment.
Learner deliberately gets them wrong
 Teacher administers shock with each wrong
response
Voltage with each wrong answer
 Slight shock:  Intense shock:
15, 30, 45, 60 255, 270, 285, 300
 Moderate shock:  Extreme intensity
shock:
75,90, 105, 120
315, 330, 345, 360
 Strong shock:  Danger : severe shock:
135, 150, 165, 180 375, 390, 405, 420
 Very strong shock:  XXX:
195, 210, 225, 240 435, 450
Procedure (cont.)
If teacher hesitated the experimenter used
the following 4 ‘prods’ in this precise order:
 “Please continue”

 “The experiment requires that you

continue”
 “It’s absolutely essential that you continue”

 “You have no other choice, you must go on”

Results
No of Participants and
Shock level far they went
 15 - 285 volts 0
 300 volts 5
 315
4
2
 330
1
 345
1
 360
1
 375
 Before we go any further
 Did any of the participants go higher?
 Out of 40 P’s how many do you think

continued to the end?

 Discuss with your group and then

write your answer.

Results
 390 volts  0
 405
 420
 0
 435  0
 450 SEVERE  0
 26 !!!!!
Approximately 65%
gave the
MAXIMUM shock!!
Conclusion
 Milgram concluded that the social setting
was a powerful determinant of an
individuals behaviour

 ‘We are socialised to obey authority and to

react with obedience’

 Participants felt that they were part of

the situation
 Evaluation

 Each study needs to be evaluated.

 Evaluation means that you look for

the strengths and weaknesses of the

study.