The “Lost Postcard” Technique

Since Milgram's initial use of the letter technique (Milgrarn, Mann, & Hatter, 1965), a number of researchers have this to be a useful tool for prediction of social behaviors and attitudes (Milgram, 1977). The rates of return for these letters. when by unknowing participants, are differentially affected by the addresses on the outside of the envelopes. Also, a sizable proportion of the letters are opened prior to being returned, presumably to use the contents to provide additional information relevant to the decision to return them. It was, therefore, decided to investigate whether similar effects would obtain when postcards were used, since they provide maximum stimulus information in a more cost-efficient manner. One hundred and rwenty-four stamped cards (595 by 35/2 in.) were addressed by hand to Mr. Walter Carnap at a local post office box. Thirty-one of these cards contained a control message similar to thet previously used with lost letters. The remaining cards carried messages encouraging Walt not to throw away his life and indicating his age as either 17, 47, or 77 yr. All cards were randomly distributed throughout the city by attaching them to cars, with the penciled note found near your car. The rates of return during the first month were not significantly different by type of message or age of addressee (all X2 < 1.00), despite prior studies with letters which have reporred effects in the range of 25% to 90% across cells. Also, the over-all rate of return of 13% for these postcards does not favorably compare with the 70% commonly reported for letters with neutral messages and addresses similar to the ones used in this study. In the absence of a differential effect by message or age, it appears that the postcard technique is not an acceptable substitute for the letter technique. Additional research is indicated to identify other possible factors in the observed non-replication

Business · Milgram experiment · Obedience · Rate of return · Replication (statistics · Statistics · Behavioral and Psychological Studies · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Computer Science · Mathematics · Psychology · Psychology of Social Influence · Social Psychology

• The individual in a social world

  Stanley Milgram•The individual in a social world•1977

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• The Lost-Letter Technique

  Open Access•Stanley Milgram, Leon Mann et al.•Public Opinion Quarterly•1965

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