Milgram Study

Milgram conducted his experiment at Yale University and tested 40 paid male volunteers from all types of backgrounds. Participants were told that the research was into the effects of punishment on learning and that the ‘Learner’ had previously memorised word pairs to be tested on. The participants task was to play the role of the ‘teacher’ who administered electric shocks of increasing voltage every time the leaner made an error (these shocks were not real). An ‘experimenter’ was also in the room with the ‘teacher’ dressed in a white lab coat that insisted that the ‘teacher’ carry on if they hesitated. Milgram found that 65% of participants went up to 450V (the maximum voltage). Milgram concluded that under certain circumstances participants will obey authority figures.

A limitation of Milgram’s research is that it has low population validity. The participants in Milgram’s study were all American males and therefore not representative of all people. For example, it could be Americans or males are more obedient compared to other people. This is a limitation as the results about obedience may not be able to be generalised to the behaviour of other, for example females. Further research into obedience may need to be carried out with female participants to fully support Milgram’s conclusions.

A strength of Milgram’s study is that he uses the experimental method so therefore has high control over extraneous variables (Like the instructions given to the participants) and can establish cause and effect. With the experimental method ,the researcher can be more confident that it is the presence of the researcher and that verbal prods they gave that caused the number of participants giving the ‘learner’ a shock of 450V. This is a strength as we can be more confident that results about obedience are not being affected by confounding variables and are therefore valid.

Another strength of Milgram’s study is its real life application today. This is because its findings show that the involvement of an authority figure can negatively influence people to do things they would otherwise not do, and with this knowledge can be used to warn authority figures like police to understand the power they hold and how to use it more responsibly. This is a strength because it betters the societal standards by which we allow authority figures to operate for a safer environment for everyone.

Another limitation however of Milgram’s research is the ethical issues with his procedure. Milgram deceived his participants in many ways: they did not know they were not giving real electric shocks, the ‘learner’ and ‘teacher’ were confederates or the real aim of the study. Furthermore Milgram did not protect his participants from psychological harm as they became very stressed at the thought of giving a stranger electrical shocks. For example there was trembling, sweating, stuttering etc. This is a limitation as it goes against the Bps ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research. However, Milgram did interview his participants after the study and the majority were pleased to have taken part. Milgram would also argue deception was integral to the study as the real aim would of elicited demand characteristics and therefore the findings would not be valid.