Milgram (obedience): past paper questions
Real questions on milgram (obedience)
The newest 20 of 136 written questions. Open one to see it on the real paper.
- 9990/11 · October/November 2025 · Q1c[2]
Outline what is meant by the term ‘socialisation’.
See it on the paper → - 9990/11 · October/November 2025 · Q2a[2]
One conclusion from the study was that when a person’s responsibility is taken from them, they are willing to harm someone else. Outline one other conclusion from this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/11 · October/November 2025 · Q2b[2]
Explain one strength of this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · October/November 2025 · Q1a[1]
State the number of participants who pressed the maximum shock level switch (450 volts).
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · October/November 2025 · Q1b[2]
Identify two other signs of tension shown by the participants. (b) One example of a sign of tension shown by the participants in this study was nervous laughter.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · October/November 2025 · Q1c[2]
Before the study, fourteen psychology students from Yale University were told about the procedure of the study. Outline what these students were asked to predict about the study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/31 · October/November 2025 · Q10a[2]
Outline what is meant by the debate between individual and situational explanations.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · May/June 2025 · Q3a[2]
Identify two features of the sample used in this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · May/June 2025 · Q3b[2]
Outline one conclusion from this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · May/June 2025 · Q3c[2]
Suggest one application to everyday life using evidence from this study. Your suggestion must be ethical.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · May/June 2025 · Q10[10]
Evaluate the study by Baron-Cohen et al. (eyes test) in terms of two strengths and two weaknesses. At least one of your evaluation points must be about quantitative data.
See it on the paper → - 9990/13 · May/June 2025 · Q5a[2]
Outline one assumption of the social approach.
See it on the paper → - 9990/13 · May/June 2025 · Q7[5]
In the study by Milgram (obedience), a shock generator was used. It consisted of 30 lever switches in a horizontal line. Describe the shock generator used in this study, other than these features.
See it on the paper → - 9990/21 · May/June 2025 · Q3a[2]
Suggest one reason why using participants with different occupations could be important to Milgram’s test of obedience. Use an example in your answer.
See it on the paper → - 9990/21 · May/June 2025 · Q3b[2]
Suggest one reason why using participants with different ages could be important to Milgram’s test of obedience. Use an example in your answer.
See it on the paper → - 9990/22 · May/June 2025 · Q3a(i)[1]
Identify this type of data.
See it on the paper → - 9990/22 · May/June 2025 · Q3a(ii)[1]
State the highest voltage at which all participants obeyed.
See it on the paper → - 9990/22 · May/June 2025 · Q3b(i)[1]
Identify this type of data.
See it on the paper → - 9990/41 · May/June 2025 · Q12a[10]
Plan a study using an interview to investigate the effects of rapid rotation shiftwork on the health of workers. Your plan must include details about: question scoring/interpretation interview format. • •
See it on the paper → - 9990/41 · May/June 2025 · Q12b(i)[4]
Describe this psychological knowledge.
See it on the paper →
What examiners said
Stronger responses could clearly outline what is meant by the term empathy. These tended to be able to cover both components of the definition. There were some responses that were tautological (e.g., empathy is about being empathic) which could not be given any credit. Also, some candidates mixed up empathy and sympathy.
— Examiner report, February/March 2025, 9990/12 Q1(b) (Cambridge)
Stronger responses could clearly provide one reason why each of the people in the question is correct in terms of validity in relation to Milgram. Popular examples for Rose included the realism of the shock generator and that the participant actually received a low-level shock. Stronger responses could provide specific and explicit examples from the study to support the reason. Common errors inclu...
— Examiner report, October/November 2023, 9990/11 Q8 (Cambridge)
The strongest responses evaluated the study by Milgram in depth and in terms of two strengths and two weaknesses with at least one of these points covering the named issue of ethics. Common choices included ethics, generalisability, reliability, ecological validity, and quantitative data. These strong responses could explain why an element of the study was a strength or a weakness using specific e...
— Examiner report, October/November 2023, 9990/12 Q10 (Cambridge)
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