PSY 2110 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - John M. Darley, Stanford Prison Experiment, Social Psychology
PSY 2110
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1: The Human Experiment Behaviour
Milgra’s Experiet
• Study on obedience
• Carried out by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University
• Conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and
personal conscience
• The participant was paired with another person and they both drew lots to find out who
ould e the learer ad ho ould e the teaher
o The draw was fixed so that the participant was always the teacher, and the
learer as oe of Milgras ofederates (pretending to be a real participant)
o There as also a eperieter dressed i a gra la oat
• The learner (Mr. Wallace) was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his
arms, and the teacher and researcher went into a room next door that contained an
electric shock generator and row of switches marked from 15V to 450V
• Milgram wanted to see how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved
harming another person
o He was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into
committing atrocities
• The teacher would ask the learner questions and every time the learner got the answer
wrong, the teacher was to administer an electric shock, increasing the level of shock
each time
o The learner gave mainly wrong answers (on purpose)
• When the teacher refused to administer a shock, the experimenter was to give a series
of orders to ensure they continues
o Please continue, the experiment requires you to continue, it is absolutely
essential that you continue, you have no other choice but to continue
o Most people would worry that they would be responsible for the death of the
learner if something were to happen to them
▪ When told that the experimenter would be fully responsible if anything
were to happen, the teacher did not have a hard time carrying on
• 2/3 of participants continued to the highest level of 450V
o All participants continued to at least 300V
• Conclusion: people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the
extent of killing an innocent human being
o people tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize authority as
morally right/legally based.
McDoald’s Strip Search Hoax
• a man called several fast food restaurants, claiming to be a police officer, and convincing
managers to conduct a strip search and sometimes sexually abuse their employees
(female employees)
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• Called a MDoalds restaurat ad told the aager that oe of her employees is a
suspect in a theft (and then drug charges)
• Told the manager to perform a strip search on the employee
• After a hour, the aager told the offier o the phoe that she had to get ak to
work
o Offier told the aager to all soeoe she trusts to assist with the
investigation
o The manager called her fiancé to come in
• The fiancé was told to order to employee to dance and do some jumping jacks while
naked
• Was later told to order the employee to perform oral sex on himself
Four fraternity Brothers
• Watched their friend die in front of them
• Made Mat drink as much water as possible, but he started to become nauseated,
vomited, became increasingly confused
o Was acting drunk from just drinking water – something is definitely wrong
• At one point, it sounded like he was snoring, so they left him to sleep it off
o He was definitely not snoring, the noise was a result of water intoxication, and
the lungs filling with fluid
• After a hour of lettig hi sleep it off, he ast reathig, ad finally they called 911
o Was pronounced dead 27 minutes after arriving in the emergency department
• Could have called 911 a lot earlier in the situation ut didt
38 New Yorkers Watched as Neighbour was Brutally Murdered
• A woman was coming home from work late at night
• A random guy assaulted her
o Guy ran after her, and stabbed her 4 times in the back
• Her screams were loud, lights went on, people were watching this happen, yet nobody
called the police
o Someone on the 7th floor elled hats goig o do here?
o The attacker heard this, ran to his car and drove away
• After the attacker left, the women got up, ran to a hallway while screaming
o She got to a hallway and collapsed, bleeding out to death
o Eventually a neighbour called the police, but it was too late
Bystander Effect
• Conducted by Darley and Latané
• When you are the only person able to help, you get up and help
• If there are 3-4 other people, you are much less likely to respond yourself
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