Professor Jerry Burger of Santa Clara conducted a replication of the 1961 Milgram Study. The Milgram study was a test to see how far a person would go for an authority figure. This replication was done with males and females in the "teacher" role. When the "learner", who was a hired actor, got the answer to a question wrong, the "teacher" had to shock them with a voltage that increased each time. The purpose of t his study was to build up on the Milgram Study by allowing females to participate in the "teacher" role and to see if the results were the same almost 50 years earlier.
The “teacher” was told to push down a lever which "shocked" the “learner” each time a question was answered incorrectly. No shocks were actually administered, but the “teachers” were unaware of this. They were instructed to continue shocking the “learner”, not by physical force, but by the calm order of an authority figure (a lab technician). Before the study had begun, it was thought that the females would be more compassionate to the “learner” and not shock him, due to more empathy.
For more information about the 1961 Milgram Study, click here.
Modified Milgram Study
Male Participants = 18
Female Participants = 22
Using the assumption that the samples are independent, to determine whether there was a difference in the ability to think freely under an authority figure between males and females, a test of significance was performed. It tested which gender was more likely to not continue injuring the “learner”.
Test and CI for Two Proportions
Sample X N Sample p
1 6 18 0.333333
2 6 22 0.272727
Difference = p (1) - p (2)
Estimate for difference: 0.0606061
95% CI for difference: (-0.225854, 0.347066)
Test for difference = 0 (vs not = 0): Z = 0.41 P-Value = 0.678
Fisher's exact test: P-Value = 0.738
At a 5% level, there is not enough evidence to suggest that gender causes a significant difference in the rate of disobeying the authority figure. The rate of not continuing to hurt the “learner” was about the same between males and females tested.
