1.1.3 factors affecting obedience

Question 1

what are individual differences?

Answer 1

The idea that the situation may not affect our behaviour, but our individual characteristics, such as personality or gender

Question 2

what individual factors affect obedience?

Answer 2

authoritarian personality
gender
culture
locus of control

Question 3

desribe the authoritarian personality

adorno

Answer 3

Develops due to excessively strict parenting - must obey parents
Individual is submissive to authority but harsh on those they see lower than themselves - hostile to out-groups

This is supported by Elms and Milgram

Question 4

Elms and Milgram

evidence for authoritarian personality

Answer 4

Elms and milgram used the F-scale with participants from Milgram’s studies, testing 20 fully obedient pps and 20 who were not.

Obedient pps scored higher on the F-scale and also reported other characteristics of the authoritarian personality, such as less closeness to their fathers.

These findings suggest that obedience is related to the personality characteristic of authoritarianism

Question 5

describe locus of control

Answer 5

• Locus of control is the extent to which a person takes responsibility for their behaviour
• internal LOC - believe they are in control and responsible for behaviour
• external LOC - belief that what happens to you is determined more by the situation and people around them, circumstances they believe are out of their control

Question 6

which loss of control is more likely to obey?

Answer 6

external loc - are more likely to obey because authority figure is responsible and the individual thinks they lack control

internal loc - more likely to dissent because they feel they are responsible

Burger - disob had slightly ↑ des for control (106.92) than ob (98.24)

Question 7

evidence of locus of control

Answer 7

Miller demonstrated LOC in a study where a high or low status experimenter told participants to grasp live electric wires.

Externals obeyed the high status experimenter more than the low status experimenter, while internals were unaffected by status

Question 8

Sheridan & King (1972)

Answer 8

Participants were ordered to give real electric shocks to a live puppy
Females = 100%
Males = 54%

found females are more obedient

Question 9

Kilham & Mann (1974)

Answer 9

Replicated Milgram in Australia and found an unusually low obedience of just 28%. in terms of gender….

• females = 16% were fully obedient
• males = 40% were fully obedient

found males more obedient

Question 10

Blass (2012)

gender

Answer 10

Meta-analysis on 12 obedience studies with similar procedures to Milgram. Found no significant gender differences

Question 11

Burger (2009)

gender

Answer 11

No significant gender difference in obedience however…
Women were slightly more likely to press the 150 vlt switch (72.7%) compared to men (66.7%)

Question 12

culture’s effect on obedience

Answer 12

Individualist culture (USA, Europe)- ‘I’
Values personal autonomy and self-reliance

Collectivist culture (China, Korea)- ‘We’
Values loyalty to the group and cooperation to achieve group goals

Question 13

Blass (2012)

culture

Answer 13

Reviewed obedience studies from different countries, found US obedience was 60.94% compared with 65.94% in other countries.

Universally, obedience rates are similar- people obey an authority figure no matter what culture they are in, therefore culture only plays a limited role.