Tag Archives: Social Psychology

Milgram (1963) - Imfamous Social Psychology Experiment

Milgram (1963) – Obedience to Authority

A Level Psychology H567, AS Psychology H167, Famous Psychological Studies, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, , , ,

Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371-378.

This study was published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in 1963.

Background

Obedience is common element found in everyday life. From obeying teachers in school, policemen on the roads, to safety signs. We obey all the time, often blindly.

It is highly recommended that you read Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View  in order to get a better understanding of the material.

Milgram was interested in understanding how Nazi SS Officers and soldiers could commit the atrocities they did in the Holocaust. Milgram reasoned that there wasn’t a group of people who shared a common goal through free will, but a group of people who obeyed a common goal through successive obedience: Hitler sends his orders, his subordinates obey, their subordinates obey and so on. Milgram theorised that it was the social situation that caused ‘normal’ people to kill millions of innocent people.

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Nemeth and Wachtler (1974) – Minority Influence

Forensic Psychology, OCR A2 Psychology, Reaching a Verdict, Reaching a Verdict, , , , ,

Nemeth, C. and Wachtler, J. (1974) ‘Creating the perceptions of consistency and confidence: a necessary condition for minority influence.’ Sociometry, 37, 529-540

Background

This is the third study we will be looking at from the ‘reaching a verdict’ section of ‘reaching a verdict’, as part of your OCR A2 Forensic Psychology course. It is further categorised into ‘Minority Influence‘

To further your learning, it is highly recommended that you read: Under the Influence: The Destructive Effects of Group Dynamics which will give you a broader understanding of group dynamics.

Recall the last study we looked at? Asch (1955) considered the impact of the majority on the minority in a group. Nemeth and Wachtler consider the opposite: the influence of the minority on the majority.

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Asch (1955) – Opinions and Social Pressure – Conformity Experiment

Famous Psychological Studies, Forensic Psychology, OCR A2 Psychology, Reaching a Verdict, Reaching a Verdict, , , , , ,

Asch, S. E. (1955) ‘Opinions and Social Pressure’, Scientific American 193 (5), 31-5.

Background

This is the second study we will be looking at from the ‘reaching a verdict’ section of ‘reaching a verdict’, as part of your OCR A2 Forensic Psychology course. It is further categorised into ‘Majority Influence‘

In this classic social psychology experiment Solomon Asch looked at conformity: particularly the influence of the majority on the minority.

This is one of the most influential and well-known studies in Psychology. It looks at conformity, which of course means that this study was conducted from a Social Psychological perspective. However, as this is from the Forensic Section of your OCR A2 Psychology exam, then we need to consider it from a forensic perspective. In this case how to do juries come to either a unanimous or majority decision.

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