Download Milgram, S. Behavioral study of obedience (Yale)

AP Outline:
Social Psychology
Structure of a given group may affect behavior of the group as a unit i.e., group
polarization.
Structure of a given group may affect behavior of the individual group member i.e.,
de-individualization.
Concepts:
Social cognition
Attribution = the ways in which individuals form judgments about other
individuals’ behaviors and their own.
Divide into:
Situational Factors
Dispositional factors
Stereotypes- regarding attributions of behavior
Attitude Stability
Attitude Change
Classic Studies:
Stanford, Zimbardo, Prison Study
Conformity
Compliance:
Obedience: Milgram and authority
Aggression/Anti-social behavior
Etiology: (the study of the causes)
Expression of Aggression
Target
Aggressor
Reduction of Aggression or group hostility
Organizational behavior
Theoretical perspectives
Individuals and group structures in orgnaizations
Behavior and performance







Group Dynamics
Attribution Processes
Interpersonal Perception
Conformity, Compliance, Obedience
Attitudes and Attitude Change
Organizational Behavior
Aggression/Antisocial Behavior
Chapter 18 Social Behavior (pg. 666)
“Behavior is influenced by pressure from others.”
Part 1 Tuesday
1. Define and or summarize the main ideas from the text
2. Social Psychology
3. Social Behavior
4. Attribution
5. Etiology
6. Types of social interactions
7. Social pressures to conform
8. Culture Impacts
9. Social Roles
10. Ascribed Roles
11. Achieved Roles
12. Stanford, Zambardo Prison Study
13. Destructive Roles
14. Groups: Cohesion and Cohesive Groups
15. Status
16. Norms
17. Proxemics: 4 Zones
Part 2 Friday
18. Social Perception
19. Attributional Theory: External/Internal
20. Situational Demands
21. Actor-Observer Bias
22. Group Membership and Need for Affiliation
23. Upward and Downward Comparison
24. Factors that Influence Attraction
25. Love and attachment: Secure, Avoidant, Ambivalent
26. Types of Social Influence
27. Conformity
28. Solmon Asch Experiment= “Group Think”
29. Group Sanctions
30. 5 types of Social Power
31. Obedience
32. Milgram Study- electric shock
33. Compliance and Sales
34. Passive Compliance
35. Assertiveness
Chapter 19 Attitudes, Culture, and Human Relations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What are attitudes?
How are attitudes formed?
Group membership = affiliation with others
Attitude Formation
Group pressures= conformity
Measure of Attitudes
a. Open interviews
b. Social Distance scales
7. Attitude Change
a. Reference Group
b. Newcomb Study
8. Definition and elements of Persuasion
9. Making choices and Cognitive dissonance Theory
10. Justification
11. Forced Attitude Change: What is the process?
12. Cults how do they work?
13. Jones Town
14. What are Prejudice and discrimination and how are they developed?
15. Authoritarian Personality
16. Inter-group Conflict
17. Social Stereotypes
18. Prejudice Experiment
a. What is integration and how does equal status contact attempt to change
prejudice?
b. Why would mutual interdependence work?
19. Aggression and explanations for aggression
20. Bandura Study “BOBO”
21. Frustration Aggression Hypothesis
22. Aversive Stimuli
23. By-stander Apathy-Kitty Genovese
24. The Decision Tree
25. How does TV impact violence?
26. School Violence Warning Signs (List)
27. How can we devictimize ourselves?
How your behavior is influenced by that of others and how their behavior is influenced
by yours…
The Study of Human interaction including:
Romantic relationships
Group behavior
Prejudices
Discrimination
Aggression
Very relevant to personal lives
Great number of landmark studies
New insights into extreme social behavior
Theories and discoveries
Ethics discussions
Dr. Phil Zimbardo (Roles) A Prison by Any Other Name…
(1972)
Democracy Now online video of Zimbardo…
Psychological effects of spending time in prison
Prisoners
Prison Guards
Q: Does prison change people or were the people in the prison system
already different going in?
Q: What happens to normal people who are placed into a situation that
exerts great power over individuals?
Theoretical Propositions:
Environment around you- the situation often determines how you behave more than you
internal/dispositional nature.
Situations can make us overcome our general tendencies.
Tested the impact of situational forces- Randomly assigned the prisoners and guards
Analyzed:
Behavior
Emotional
Attitudes toward self
Coping
Adaptation
Reactions
Method:
Simulate real prison experiences (ex-con consultant)
Planned for 2 week study
Cells, solitary confinement, yard
Supervision cameras
Participants:
Paid
Informed consent “violations of civil rights, privacy, minimal food”
Screened for mental disorders etc
24 participants
Random selection to group of prisoner or guards
No instructions
Procedure
Goal To: Observe, record, analyze behavior
Will the situation override the basic personality and behavioral tendency of the
participant?
People arrested, placed in cell…
Prisoners rendered as prisoners (humiliation, repression, entrapment) with, cap (simulated
head shave), chained ankle, stripped, delousing, number used for name, uniform…
Stayed in custody 24 hours/day
The Guards
8 hour shifts
Sunglasses
No training
Just instructed to keep order
Results
Roles took over
They lost themselves in the roles they played (they became their role)
Quote from Zimbardo
“ …. Values were suspended, self-concepts were challenged and the ugliest most base,
pathological side of human nature surfaced… guards treated others as despicable animals,
taking pleasure in cruelty, while other boys became servile, (prisoners) dehumanized
robots who thought only of escape…”
Severe emotional reactions of prisoners resulted- depressed dejected, stopped eating
Some of the guards “took to tormenting the prisoners, apparently enjoying the power of
their positions.
Some tried to be decent but never intervened with more abusive guards…
Milgram Study
http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-the-milgram-experiment-2556563.html
“Obey at Any Cost” (1963)
Milgram, S. Behavioral study of obedience (Yale)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How did Milgram test the power of obedience to authority?
Why do people obey authority? (Diffusion of responsibility)
To what extent people obey authority? (proxemics?)
What are people willing to do if authoritatively reinforced?
How reliable was Milgram’s study?
How did Milgram use science to identify a connection between obedience and
changes in behavior? (scientific method, used study techniques, replicable, single
blind study, statistically significant segment)
7. What are the implications of Milgram and Zimbardo’s research?
8. How does Milgram and Zimbardo’s findings impact ethical considerations to
psychological research? (Use of Deception, emotional trauma on participants)
Milgram wanted to find out “How are people capable of carrying out great harm to others
simply because they were ordered to do so?”
(WWII)
Identified situational considerations of the need to obey that impact morals, ethics, and
sympathy…
(One person – ordered another person to hurt a third person)
Theoretical Considerations:
“Humans have a tendency to obey people who are in a position of authority… even to the
point of inflicting pain on a victim if ordered to by a powerful authority figures.”
Method:
Shock machine labeled
“Slight shock- Moderate Shock- Danger Severe Shock”
Starting at 30 volts increasing 15 volt intervals- to 450 volts
(110volts is household electrical current and can kill you)
40 males between 20-50 years old
Workers, white collar, and professionals
Memory and learning study pretext
Paid, money was theirs to keep no matter what happened
Not to be coerced by money
Could leave at any time
“Teacher” (the subject of the study)
“Experimenter” – actor who played the role as authority figure.
“Learner” And Confederate (person who was playing the role of respondent)
Subjects were told the experiment was to “study the effect of punishment on learning”
Learner strapped to a chair with electrodes
Memory task to match words
Shock was administered for each incorrect answer
The Teacher was instructed to repeatedly shock the learner…
The learner repeatedly responded with cries of pain and then silence… the Teacher was
instructed to continue shocks.
The teacher thought they were administering real shocks.
The teacher turned to experimenter for guidance on whether to continue.
Experimenter- responded with orders to continue“Please continue”
“The experiment requires that you continue”
“It is absolutely essential that you continue”
“You have no other choice: you must go on.”
Each participant could be scored on their level of obedience the number of shocks they
delivered which was 0 to 30.
All the way to 30 = Obedient subjects
Any lower than 30 = Defiant subjects
Results
At 330 volts – intense shocks were initiated- Learner banged on the wall 5 people quit
14 quit early- “Defiant subjects”
26 or 65% participants went all the way to 450 volts, “Obedient Subjects”
Exhibited extreme stress and concern for the man receiving the shock…
After the experiment the participant had a “Debrief” to know the real purpose and
alleviate the possible psycho damage.
Discussion
Two main points1. Strength of tendency to obey.
The situation created the force of authority… the atmosphere of obedience
2. There was an extreme tension and anxiety was created.
Why did they OBEY?
 Yale sponsor- “Who am I to question.”
 Goals are important, “I’ll do my part.”
 “The learner volunteered.”
 “I got this part by chance.”
 “I better do a good job I was paid.”
 I’ll yield to the psychologist he knows better.
 Shocks are not dangerous but painful.
Significance of Findings
Replicated findings with women and unpaid college students.
Details related to findings- distance closer to “victim” resulted in less obedience
Farther away from victim = more obedience to inflict pain
Closer to the Authority Figure = more obedience
When people had a choice about the level of shock they only used number 2.
Criticism
Ethical- too much stress was created for participants
Lasting negative effects are possible
Example of power of obedience:
Himmler speech http://www.holocaust-history.org/himmler-poznan/