2. Milgram's Obedience Research

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about Milgram’s research into obedience, focusing in particular on: (i) the context prefacing Milgram’s experiment, including the societal prevalence of obedience research due to the outcomes from the Nuremberg trials; (ii) the methodology of Milgram’s 1963 obedience study; (iii) the results of Milgram’s study, including that 65% of participants continued administrating shocks up to a lethal intensity and that almost all participants presented some resistance at some point; (iv) the nineteen variations of Milgram’s study, with a focus on numbers seven, ten and thirteen; (v) experiments seven and ten representing the elements of social impact theory immediacy and strength of the influencer respectively; (vi) the commonly omitted experiment variation 13a wherein the experimenter confederate put intense pressure on the participant, which led to not just a lack of obedience, but active disobedience.

Course

In this course, Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya (University of Birmingham) explores factors affecting social influence. In the first lecture, we think about what social influence is and how to define obedience within it. In the second lecture, we think about Milgram’s research into obedience, with a specific review of variations seven, ten and thirteen. In the third lecture, we think about how gender and culture can impact obedience and influenceability. Next, we think about disobedience in the context of whistleblowing and its differentiation from obedience. In the fifth lecture, we think about how you as a psychologist would go about undertaking a study to explore obedience and disobedience. In the sixth and final lecture, we think about how to conclude on the concepts discussed throughout this course.

Lecturer

Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Dr Bouguettaya’s research interests are in social psychology and how knowledge from that field can be applied to others, particularly health, including how we can apply social identity theory to societal problems, as well as investigating the different perspectives one might take on those issues. Some of Dr Bouguettaya’s recent publications include 'The relationship between gambling advertising and gambling attitudes, intentions and behaviours: a critical and meta-analytic review' (2020) and 'The Effect of a Food Addiction Explanation Model for Weight Control and Obesity on Weight Stigma' (2020).