(5) 🧑🧑🧒🧒 situational variables affecting obedience - Milgram Flashcards
Milgram hypothesised the results of his study were due to situational variables, what three variables did he manipulate?
proximity, location, unifrom
what were the obedience rates when administrating 250V in the original study?
65%
what happened in the variation study for proximity?
- learner and teacher in same room, obedience dropped to 40%.
- when teacher made to place learners hand on ‘shock plate’, obedience dropped to 30%.
how can you explain why obedience levels dropped when manipulating promxity?
decreased proximity allows psychological distance from the consequences of one’s actions
what happened in the variation study for location?
when conducted in run down office block rather than at Yale university, obedience dropped to 47.5% from the original 65%
how can you explain why obedience levels dropped when manipulating location?
prestigious environment gave original experiment legitimacy and authority that Ps perceived the experimenter shared, therefore thought obedience expected.
what happened in the variation study for unifrom?
experimenter called away due to a phone call and the role is passed onto another confederate in ordinary, civilian clothing - obedience dropped to 20%
how can you explain why obedience levels dropped when manipulating uniform?
uniforms encourage obedience as widely recognised symbols of legitimate authority.
✅ - research support
E: Bickman (1974) investigated how the effect of uniform influenced public obedience. confederates, all in diff clothing, asked people in NYC to either pay for parking or collect litter to obedience levels. people twice as likely to obey confederate dressed as security guard than the one dressed in suit.
E: supports Milgram’s research that uniforms hold legitimate authority and can influence obedience
❌ - may not be cross-cultural
E: Smith and Bond (1998) identified just two replications of Milgram’s findings about situational variables in cultures different to US (India and Jordan).
E: cannot generalise results to different cultures where authority figures are viewed differently.
❌ - situational explanation of obedience has been criticised.
E: Mandel (1998) argues it justifies evil behaviour. e.g., offensive to victims of Holocaust to suggest Nazis were simply obeying orders.
additionally, his explanation doesn’t account for dispositional factors like personality. e.g., people with an authoritarian personality more likely to obey.
E:: situational explanation is an oversimplification and could be used as an excuse for evil behaviour and a way to not take responsibility for harmful behaviours.
