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Essay / Psychological Experiments: An Analysis of Milgram's Study of Obedience
Psychology can be defined as “the scientific study of experience and behavior” (Parsons, 2012). The approaches can be defined as “different schools of thought” (Parsons, 2012). Each of the different approaches has its own explanation of why individuals do what they do. A methodology is a system of methods used in a field of study. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay There are a number of human experiments conducted in psychology, including Milgram with his study of obedience, Asch and the study of normative social influence/conformity, Bandura and the Bobo doll experiment and also Piaget and the conservation-oriented experiments and also the three mountains task. I will focus on one of these experiments which will be Milgram's study on obedience. Milgram (1963) conducted a laboratory experiment to test the factors thought to affect obedience. Individuals had volunteered to participate in this study and thought it was a study on learning and memory (Parsons, 2012). When the participants arrived, they were introduced to an accomplice, who acted like another participant but was part of the scheme. The confederate and participant drew lots to see who would act as the teacher and who would act as the learner (Parsons, 2012). However, this has been corrected so that the participant is the teacher. The participant saw the confederate tied to the chair and also connected to the shock generator, which was in the next room (Parsons, 2012). The switches ranged from 15 volts to 450 volts. These shocks were not real, but the participant thought they were. The participant taught the confederate/learner word pairs and when the confederate got it wrong; the participant would have to administer a shock that increased each time (Parsons, 2012). As the shocks increased, the learner cried out and asked if he could be released. After 330 volts, the learner made no noise. The experimenter would tell the participant to continue if he or she hesitated (Parsons, 2012). There are always evaluations of experiences, identifying strengths and limitations. One of the strengths of human experiments is that they can be replicated, meaning that another researcher can repeat the experiment following the method to see if they find the same or similar results. When replicating the experiment, the researcher may also wish to change certain variables. This in turn can be a strength. Independent variables can be manipulated and extraneous variables can also be controlled so that they do not influence the relationship between other variables. This therefore means that it is possible to establish cause and effect (Parsons, 2012). However, if the experiments are conducted in the laboratory, they do not tell us much about real-world contexts and therefore it is difficult for the experiments to generalize those contexts to the real world. This means that the experiments would lack ecological validity (Parsons, 2012). Additionally, demand characteristics may come into play. This means that participants can be alerted to the signals of the experiment and realize what is happening, so that their actions will not be what they think, but will match the researcher's expectations. If this happened, the results would be biased and unreliable (Parsons, 2012). Additionally, there are a few well-known experiments performed with animals, but the two I will focus onare Skinner's experiments with rats and also Pavlov's experiments with dogs. .Skinner conducted an experiment using rats and also a skinner box. He conditioned rats to press a lever in the Skinner box in order to obtain a food reward (Birch et al., 1997). The box contained the lever on one side and when the rate moved in the box it accidentally hit the lever. When this happened, a food pellet would be released into a contents next to the lever (McLeod, SA, 2015). After being in the box several times, the rats then learned to move toward the lever, due to the consequence of receiving food. This showed positive reinforcement, as the rat associated the lever with a food pellet. However, Skinner increased the difficulty and introduced lighting and an electrified floor. When the light flashed, the ground sent an electric current and the rat was electrocuted. Over time, the rat learned that if it moved from the ground, it would not be shocked and escape. Using this, Skinner shows negative reinforcement (McLeod, SA, 2015). This Russian physiologist began to study the salivary reflex in dogs. He found that when an unconditioned stimulus (food) is paired with other stimuli such as a buzzer, the dog then salivates due to an established association (Birch et al., 1997). In the first stage of the experiment, the dog was offered food alone and in response it salivated. In the next step, Pavlov offered the dog food at the same time as a sound signal (conditional stimulus) sounded. After the dog was presented with this problem several times, it began to salivate when the beep sounded alone (Birch et al., 1997). This therefore shows that an association has been established between food and the sound of the buzzer, as well as between the buzzer and salivation. There is also a high degree of variable control within these experiences, meaning there is less chance of extraneous elements influencing everything. relationship between other variables. It will also be easier to draw conclusions and identify causes and effects. Animal experiments can also be replicated by other researchers, meaning that by following the method they can repeat them several times after the first experiment. Another strength of animal experiences is that they do not exhibit demand characteristics, as they do not have the desire to please. Therefore, if the research observes chances, they are considered more valid. A limitation of this experiment, however, is that the results cannot be generalized to humans, as they are considered to be too different from those of different species (Parsons, 2012). Anthropomorphism can occur when animals are unable to tell the researcher how the experience affected them and therefore human motivation will be attributed to non-human behavior (Psychology flipped, 2015). Case studies are also used in psychology and there are a number of cases. studies that are well known. One such well-known study is that of Freud which I will focus on. Freud often used case studies and Little Hans was one of them. Little Hans was a 5-year-old boy who had a phobia of horses. The information about little Hans that Freud obtained came from little Hans's father, who provided Freud with weekly reports. It was reported that since little Hans was 3 years old, he was interested in his penis, and when little Hans turned 5, his mother threatened him by telling him that she would cut him off if he didn't kept playing with it. . Around the same time, the.