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Evaluate Milgram's Study

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Milgram (1974) conducted many experiments based on obedience the most familiar experiment is experiment 5 which took place in 1963. The objective of experiment 5 was to see what factors would influence an individual to obey, the situational factor in the experiment using electric shocks shows although the situation from an outside perspective may seem morally wrong, for example, inflicting pain on another person is something that people would not choose to do unless put under a difficult situation like the participants were. The fact that Milgram researched this topic gives us great insight on human behaviour. According to Milgram a cause of obedience is authority, indicating the environment and individuals a person is surrounded by dictates how obedient a person can be. In 1971 Zimbardo also carried out research on obedience conducting a prison experiment. …show more content…
This experiment reinforces this as we learn that individuals will carry out acts in the presence of another whether they feel it is morally right or wrong. This is supported by an estimate of 65% of the people involved chose to continue giving electric shocks simply because the experimenter prompted them to do so (Baumeister, 2010). Maybe participants would have acted differently if the experimenter was not in the room and the proximity between them hadn’t been so close. This idea is supported by another experiment where Milgram altered the conditions of experiment 5 and instead had the experimenter and learner in separate rooms, which meant giving the teacher instructions over speaker. Psychteacher.co.uk (2015) stated that obedience levels dropped by 20% when the experimenter was out of sight. As this indicates individuals feel less pressured to act when they are not be closely watched. This implies that the situational factor of proximity between an individual and someone of authority causes a change in

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