The article reports on the original study conducted by Milgram. He conducted several variations on this procedure which we will look at briefly later. His work is one of the most controversial pieces of research in psychology.

What is meant by the term ‘obedience’?

Give some examples of  real life obedience to authority.

Why did Milgram conduct this research?

Who were the subjects for this study and how did Milgram obtain them?

What are the disadvantages of this method of selecting subjects?

Briefly outline the procedure for this study.

Hints:

‘drawing lots’

information

about shocks

word pairs

prods

Complete the following results table:

Convert the number of people continuing to 450 volts into a percentage.

What happened at 300 volts that may have led some subjects to stop?

Milgram states that the study created tension in the subjects. What evidence is there for this statement?

Milgram ‘debriefed’ his subjects. What did the debriefing consist of?

Milgram suggests 9 features of the study that may have contributed to the high levels of obedience. Make a note of each one and see if you can think of any more.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

any more?