Cover story Essay

To investigate what level of obedience participants would show when an authority figure told them to administer electric shocks to other person. Participants Obtained from advertisements + direct mailing. Self selected or volunteer sample. 40 males 20-50 yrs old from New Haven area in the United Stated of America. Job ranges Included postal clerks, HS teachers, salesmen, labourers, engineers, etc. Education one had not finished HS to some who a have degree + qualification in various subjects.Paid $4.50 regardless of what happened by and by and before they arrived. This is called COERCIAN. Method and Design Method Lab experiment. Observer observed participants for signs of tension/nervousness sweat, tremble, biting of lips, nervous laughter I. V. /D. V. I. V. There was NO I. V. D. V. direct of obedience how far theyd go with the voltage to shock the student. Procedure LEARNER TASK The teacher (participant) was asked to read a series of word pairs to the learner (confederate), an d then read the 1st word of the pair along with the 4 other terms.Learner (confederate) had to indicate which 1 of the 4 terms was originally polar with the 1st word. SHOCK GENERATOR The shock generator perceived to be real professionally made + model printed. There were 30 switches labelled from 15 to 450 volts. 15 volt different between each switch. Labels to describe intensity from slight shock (weakest) to xxx (strongest). teachers (ppts) were given a 45 volts shock to impel them that the shocks were real.Teacher was told to give shock for every wrong answer while moving a shock level higher on shock generator. Teacher had to read out the voltage to the learner each time they were about to give a shock. If the teacher asked for advice/wanted to stop, experimenter used 4 prods. Example satisfy continue, this experiment requires that you continue. Controls Standardised deception. Cover story. Slips of paper drawn (pre-determined teacher). Learner strapped.Standardised prods used by experimenter. Results (overall %) 65% of ppts continued to shock until 450 volts. unaccompanied 35% stopped before. 22. 5% stopped at 300 volts. Many showed signed of nervousness and extreme tension. 14 displayed nervous laughter 3 had unmanageable seizures. Conclusion Very high rate of obedience 65%. Milgram explained this as being so high because its a strong part of military personnel society. Milgram said Many situational factors which lead to high rate of obedience.