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Cover story Essay To investigate what level of obedience participants would show when an authority figure told them to administer electric shocks to another person. Participants: Obtained from advertisements + direct mailing. Self selected or volunteer sample. Â  40 males: 20-50 yrs old from New Haven area in the United Stated of America. Â  Job ranges Included: postal clerks, HS teachers, salesmen, labourers, engineers, etc. Â  Education: one had not finished HS to some who a have degree + qualification in various subjects. Paid: $4.50 regardless of what happened after and before they arrived. This is called COERCIAN. Method and Design: Â  Method: Lab experiment. Â  Observer observed participants for signs of tension/nervousness: sweat, tremble, biting of lips, nervous laughter I. V. /D. V. Â  I. V. There was NO I. V. D. V. Level of obedience; how far theyd go with the voltage to shock the learner. Procedure: LEARNER TASK Â  The teacher (participant) was asked to read a series of word pairs to the learner (confederate), and then read the 1st word of the pair along with the 4 other terms. Learner (confederate) had to indicate which 1 of the 4 terms was originally paired with the 1st word. SHOCK GENERATOR The shock generator perceived to be real professionally made + model printed. There were 30 switches labelled from 15 to 450 volts. 15 volt different between each switch. Â  Labels to describe intensity from slight shock (weakest) to xxx (strongest). Teachers (ppts) were given a 45 volts shock to convince them that the shocks were real. Teacher was told to give shock for every wrong answer while moving a shock level higher on shock generator. Teacher had to read out the voltage to the learner each time they were about to give a shock. Â  If the teacher asked for advice/wanted to stop, experimenter used 4 prods. Example: please continue, this experiment requires that you continue. Controls: Standardised deception. Cover story. Â  Slips of paper drawn (pre-determined teacher). Â  Learner strapped. Standardised prods used by experimenter. Results: (overall %) 65% of ppts continued to shock until 450 volts. Only 35% stopped before. Â  22. 5% stopped at 300 volts. Â  Many showed signed of nervousness and extreme tension. Â  14 displayed nervous laughter; 3 had uncontrollable seizures. Conclusion: Very high rate of obedience 65%. Milgram explained this as being so high because its a strong part of human society. Â  Milgram said: Many situational factors which lead to high rate of obedience.