Bocchiaro

Question 1

key theme + area

Answer 1

key theme = response to people in authority
area = social

Question 2

background

Answer 2

Milgram’s study of obedience to authority

Question 3

aim

Answer 3

to see how many people will comply with unethical requests and how many will respond by ‘whistle-blowing’ to a higher authority. a secondary aim was to compare actual rates of disobedience + whistle-blowing to estimated results.

Question 4

categories of response

Answer 4

• obedient = complied fully
• disobedient = refused statement
• whistle-blowers = reported to EC
• open WB = refused statement + reported to EC
• anonymous WB = complied with statement but reported it to EC

Question 5

participant

Answer 5

149 undergraduates (96 women, 53 men. mean age 20.8)
either paid £7 or given class credit
recruited by flyers
self-selecting sample

Question 6

procedure 1 - pilot study

Answer 6

8 pilot tests with 92 students
showed credibility
was morally acceptable to ppts
helped standardised researchers behaviours

Question 7

procedure 2 - main study

Answer 7

in lab, male Dutch experimenter (formally dressed, stern), requested names of fellow students, presented cover story;
- bad things happened in Italian sensory deprivation research
- want to do it again top people you listed
- help us get past the ethics committee by saying positive things about the research

Question 8

procedure 3 - main study - room 2

Answer 8

use at least 2 adjectives from; exciting, incredible, great, superb.
cannot mention negative effects of SD
stayed away for 7 minutes
in room = mailbox + ethics forms

Question 9

procedure 4 - debrief

Answer 9

experimenter returned
ppts taken back into 1sty room
taken 2 personality inventories
probe for suspicion
debriefed fully
whole study lasted approx. 40 mins

Question 10

results

Answer 10

• disobedient = 21
• obedient = 114
• WB = 14
• Anon = 5
• open = 9
  when questioned most ppts said that they would report he unethical experiment and that the average student would disobey.
  however, 76.5% actually obeyed and only 9.4% ‘blew the whistle’

Question 11

conclusion

Answer 11

although most people believe they would disobey unethical instructions and report unethical conduct, in practise the majority comply with unethical instructions