1. Welcome to Yale University

3. Groups of three One Experimenter (White lab coat)
One Learner (Mr Wallis- confederate)
One Teacher (Participant- naïve)

5. Procedure
Milgram developed a laboratory experiment which provided a systematic way to measure obedience.
Milgram recruited participants using Volunteer Sampling- a newspaper advert.
The participant arrives at The Yale Interaction Laboratory and were met by the experimenter ‘Jack Williams’, a man dressed in a laboratory coat.
The participants meet another man, a man in his 50s named Mr Wallis who they aren’t aware is a confederate.

6. Script Experimenter (Jack Williams) Teacher (naive)
Mr Wallis (confederate)

7. Are Germans different?
In the beginning, Stanley Milgram was worried about the Nazi problem.
He doesn’t worry about that anymore, he worried about you and me.
Stanley Milgram was a social psychologist at Yale University in 1960.
His research aim was to provide evidence for the “Germans are different” hypothesis

8. “Germans are different” hypothesis
The hypothesis has been used by historians to explain the systematic destruction of the Jews by the Third Reich.
Milgram set out to test whether Germans have a basic character flaw which is a readiness to obey authority without question, no matter what outrageous acts the authority commands.

10. Milgram’s Study into Obedience
The Characters:
A teacher (naive)
A learner (confederate)
An experimenter (confederate)
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11. Derren Brown: Milgram Re-enactment
What are the BPS guidelines?
Be ready to tick each ethical guideline has been broken.
Write a brief explanation.
How were they led to believe it was fair and real?

12. Ethical Issues in Milgram
Protection of Participants from harm
Baumrind said the strain Milgram put his ps under was too much. He argued that a year after the experiment 84% were glad to have participated and the consultation he had prior with professionals meant he could not have predicted the extreme outcome anyway.
Deception
Said they were involved in a study of the effect of punishment on learning
Lack of Informed Consent
Due to the deception they could not make an informed decision
The right to withdraw
Milgram said they had this but others argue that the experimenter ‘prods’ were misleading for some ps

13. The Ethics Committee

14. Descriptive Statistics

15. Conformity or Obedience?

16. To be able to outline and evaluate 4 explanations of why people obey
Why do people obey?
LO:
To be able to outline and evaluate 4 explanations of why people obey

17. Explanations for Obedience
Situational variables affecting obedience including;
Proximity (Milgram)
Location (Milgram)
Uniform (Milgram)
Agentic state
Legitimacy of authority
Dispositional explanation for obedience: the Authoritarian Personality.

18. Situational Variables affecting obedience
Original Study:
65% went to 450V, far beyond the
‘Danger High Voltage mark’.
Why obey someone in uniform as opposed to an ‘ordinary’ member of the public?
Legitimate authority?
Ethics are somewhat dubious!

19. Situational Variables affecting obedience
Original Study:
65% went to 450V, far beyond the
‘Danger High Voltage mark’.
Legitimacy of the location
Instead of a uni, a seedy office block
48%
Closer proximity- same room
Teacher and learner in the same room
40%
Touch proximity- physical contact
The teacher was required to force the learners hand onto a shock plate
30%
Orders on the phone- further proximity
Orders were given in person, then subsequent orders over the phone
21%
The Power of the Uniform
Experimenter in lab coat is ‘called away’ urgently. Instructions given by a ‘member of the public’ in normal clothes
20%

20. Situational Variables Affecting Obedience
Describe the affect of the following variables:
Proximity
Location
Power of a Uniform

21. Evaluation- same as Milgram’s Original Study
Low Internal Validity
Did they believe it was real or was it ‘demand characteristics’?
Perry ‘12 found that many were sceptical at the time, and that those identified as ‘doubters’ were less likely to obey than those identified as ‘believers’.
Historical/Temporal Validity
Is it a child of its time? Why?
On the other hand Burger ‘09 found that actually obedience levels in research were the same now as then.
Is this research socially sensitive?
Does it provide an alibi for aggressive obedience?
E.g. Major Trapp in 1942 offered Nazi soldiers the opportunity to do other tasks as opposed to the mass killing of Jews in Poland. Despite all of the variables present (proximity, presence of allys) the majority still did it.
So is this theory of Milgram’s just an alibi for antisemitism?

22. Agency Theory and Agentic State
What are they doing?
Who are they doing it for?

23. Agency Theory and Agentic State
Agentic Shift
From autonomous state…
To agentic state

24. Agency Theory and Agentic State
Who’s fault will this be???
It will be my fault
Why does it work?
Doesn’t reflect their self image if it isn’t their fault
Why do they stay?
Social norms to fulfil commitment, not seem rude etc.
How do we know?
This was the common reason for behaviour cited during the debrief.

25. Legitimacy of Authority
Helps to decide whether or not to move into agentic state
We are socialised to recognise some as authority figures
How does Milgram operationalise authority?
Category of ‘science’ more important than its status in that category as shown by the 48% obedience for ‘Research Associates’
Needs an institutional structure. Examples?
We accept the definition of the situation provided by the authority figure. Examples?

26. Evaluation: Legitimacy of Authority and Agentic State
Is this research socially sensitive?
Does it provide an alibi for aggressive obedience?
E.g. Major Trapp in 1942 offered Nazi soldiers the opportunity to do other tasks as opposed to the mass killing of Jews in Poland. Despite all of the variables present (proximity, presence of allys) the majority still did it.
So is this theory of Milgram’s just an alibi for antisemitism?

27. Evaluation: Legitimacy of Authority and Agentic State
Can they explain real life examples of obedience?
My Lai Massacre 1968 (Vietnam War)
Lt. Calley ordered a village of non-combatants murdered.
500 murdered.
Calley’s defense?
Just following orders- agentic shift
Orders given by Capt. Medina- Legitimate authority.

28. Evaluation: Legitimacy of Authority and Agentic State
Are some people just looking for an opportunity for evil?
Many social scientists believe that the situation doesn’t matter and that Milgram saw sadism in them that they wanted to act out.
This was confirmed by the sadism shown in Zimbardo’s experiment even without a clear authority figure.
What does this suggest?
Evaluation: Legitimacy of Authority and Agentic State