The study focuses on the Milgram paradigm’s effect on the better than average (BTA) impact on participants and their opinion on obedience. The participants were given a very precise description of the experiment and asked to decide when an average participant would terminate their involvement in the study (Gryzb & Dolinski, 2017). Following that, they were urged to announce at what point they would discontinue participation. The research of the experiment focused on detecting the strength of the BTA effect in relation to obedience. The participants were also categorized by those who had prior knowledge of the Milgram experiment and those who hadn’t. The study was conducted across multiple countries with each nation registering different averages which, were ranked against each other. The research question of the study asked to what extent did nationality, prior knowledge of the Milgram paradigm, and the BTA effect express an individual’s opinion on obedience? The hypothesis reflected that those with prior knowledge of the experiment were more likely to report a higher BTA score.
First, the study was approved by the International Review Board and conducted by a Polish research website, Ariadna. A sample group was selected from 100,000 respondents with participants falling in the 14-70 age group. Additionally, the participant panel was verified by the Polish Association of Public Opinion and Marketing Research Firms and the Quality Control Program of Pollsters’ Work which operates with regard to the international ethics code, ICC/ESOMAR (International Chamber of Commerce, 2016). As such, the ethical requirements were judged by international standards and the experiment proceeded in an appropriate manner.
The first stage of the experiment had the participants log into an internal site and begin a survey with acknowledgment of basic information such as sex, age, and residency. A 6-minute video was shown to the participants which specified the procedure of the original 1963 Milgram experiment. The video expressed all the aspects of the 1963 experiment, such as the roles of the participants and the researchers, but did not specify the results. The participants were asked to reply to four control questions which could analyze how well the participants absorbed the provided information. Answering at least three questions correctly qualified them for the following steps.
Next, the participants were presented with thirty switches that were labeled with voltage, identically to the original experiment. They were asked to estimate the average person’s limit, their own, and a hypothetical limit of an average participant from another country. The last question may be more biased towards people’s racial stereotyping and opinions, and therefore presents a questionable aspect of the study. If the study was focused on finding the opinions of individuals on the obedience levels of people from other nations, it would have been better to provide them with already gathered, anonymous data. I find the experiment skipped over some complex and immeasurable variables. Dependent variables of this study included prior exposure to the Milgram experiment, sex, age, and nationality. These factors were recorded but not compared to the gathered data in a sufficient manner.
Though it met all the ethical requirements of multiple boards and organizations, the option to guess the averages of participants from other nations is doubtful. It raises many other variables, such as an individual’s opinion on the other nations, their exposure to the Milgram paradigm, or knowledge of that country’s citizens. Negative opinions may alter the estimation in a way that may not have benefited the study. There is also no direct correlation between the estimation of the other country’s participants’ averages and the BTA effect of the interviewee. There would have to be a more in-depth survey or interview with participants to ensure the reason for their scoring of the other country’s participants’ averages.
References
Gryzb, T., & Dolinski, D. (2017). Beliefs about obedience levels in studies conducted within the Milgram paradigm: better than average effect and comparisons of typical behaviors by residents of various nations. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Web.
International Chamber of Commerce. (2016). ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market, Opinion and Social Research and Data Analytics. Web.