Bocchiaro Flashcards
research method
Lab observation
What was the “experimental paradigm”?
A hypothetical study on sensory deprivation to see whether PPs would write a statement to friends
Sample
149 Dutch Uni students
96 females
53 males
How many students in pilot test?
92
How many students in comparison group?
138
How many PPs obeyed?
76.5%
Explain how the procedure from Bocchiaro et al.’s
study relates to the key theme of responses to
people in authority (3)
Participants were tested to see if they would obey,
disobey or whistleblow a request from a person
posing as an experimenter, deemed to be a legitimate
authority figure, who wanted to carry out a
potentially unethical study (into sensory deprivation)
Describe the sample used in Bocchiaro et al.’s
study into whistleblowing. (2)
149 dutch undergraduate uni students, 96 women and 53 men
Outline one way in which Bocchiaro et al.’s study
showed sampling bias (2)
The study was gender biased towards female
participants which meant that obedience levels
did not fully represent male’s behaviour
Outline one conclusion that can be drawn from
Bocchiaro et al.’s study into disobedience and
whistleblowing. (2)
How would you answer?
a conclusion and evidence
Outline one conclusion that can be drawn from
Bocchiaro et al.’s study into disobedience and
whistleblowing. (2)
What individual’s think/say they and others will do in a
given situation often differs from actually happens. Initially
only about 4% of participants indicated that they
would obey the researcher when in reality 75% of the participants did so.
From Bocchiaro et al’s study into disobedience and
whistleblowing:
Identify two quantitative findings. [2]
Only 3.6% indicated they would obey the experimenter.
76.5% obeyed the experimenter
To what extent does the study by Bocchiaro et al change our
understanding of responses to people in authority? [3]
Although the study did develop our understanding
of obedience to authority in a more complex social
situation, more representative of real life than Milgram’s
study, the majority of participants still supported the
theory that people will obey authority figures, even if
the authority is unjust.
Aim
To investigate factors that influence obedience, disobedience and whistle blowing to an unethical request
Procedure
No IV
8 pilot studies - check ethics
Pps required to give names of fellow students, told a story on sensory deprivation where there had been negative consequences on PPs
PPs left for 3 mins then moved to another room
asked to write a statement of support of the study addressed to their friends, left alone for 7 mins
DV= percentage of pp that obeyed by writing a statement in support of sensory deprivation research or that disobeyed or that whistle blew and reported the expt to the ethics committee
Also completed 2 personality tests
Findings
No relation in terms of religion or gender
76.5% obeyed compared to the 36% that the comparison group thought would
14.1% disobeyed compared to 31.9%
9.4% whistle blew compared to 64.5%
Conclusions
Individuals tend to obey authority figures even if the authority is unjust
To what extent does Bocchiaro change our understanding to responses to authority?
No change - high obedience in both studies
change - Bocchiaro went further than Milgram and showed that people think they will be less obedient than they actually are
To what extent does Bocchiaro change our understanding of responses to authority (Individual)
Milgram only used males, Bocchiaro used males and females and was able to show that females are just as obedient
To what extent does Bocchiaro change our understanding of responses to authority (Social)
Both were influenced by social context, Bocchario went further and was able to show that the authority figure does not need to be present
To what extent does Bocchiaro change our understanding of responses to authority (Cultural)
Milgram - USA
Bocchiaro - Netherlands
Both showed high levels of obedience
How does Bocchiaro link to the social area?
Defining Principle - Assumes that a major influence on people’s behaviour, through processes and emotions are the real, implied or imagined presence of others
Interested in the influence of an authority figure even when they were not in the room with the PPs and whether this had an effect on whether PPs obeyed, disobeyed or whistle blew
How does Bocchiaro link to the key theme?
Builds on Milgram’s work into obedience and disobedience by giving PPs the option to whistle blow on the experimenters and reporting them for potentially unethical research on sensory deprivation. 76.5% were obedient, only 9.4% blew the whistle
Pros and cons to research method
+ procedure standardised (paradigm and locations)
+Obedience was tested ethically
-PPs may have guessed the aims of the study - resulting in demand characteristics
Sampling Bias (pro and con)
+ Males and Females
- All uni students, students may be ore proactive in protesting about unfair practices.
Types of data (2 pros and con)
+ quantitative data: personality test scores; easy to analyse
- Quantitative data may oversimplify complex behaviours
+Qualitative data was provided in comments made during the study and during debrief
Ethical Considerations
+ Informed consent, right to withdraw and debriefed
-Deceived
Ethnocentrism
Experimenter belonged to the same ethnic group as the PPs, so pps may have responded more positively towards him, there may have been less obedience if the experimenter was an “outsider”
