Bocchiaro

Question 1

What was the background of Bocchiaro ?

Answer 1

He believed that Milgram didn’t do enough research into the effects of authority on whistleblowing

Question 2

What was the aim of Bocchiaro?

Answer 2

To investigate how many people would comply with an unethical request and how many would whistle blow.

To see the role o dispositional factors in O, D, W

Question 3

What was the methodology in Bocchiaro ?

Answer 3

Laboratory experiment

Question 4

What was the sample in Bocchiaro ?

Answer 4

-149 undergraduate students
- 96 females, 53 males
- recruited flyers around Uni of Amsterdam
- all p’s were paid 7 euros or given course credit for taking part in study
- 92 p’s took part in pilot study
- 11 p’s removed because of the suspiciousness

Question 5

What was the cover story used in Bocchiaro?

Answer 5

-study on sensory deprivation
-a study was conducted w/ 6 p’s
-cognitive abilities were impaired with visual and auditory hallucinations
-p’s asked to stop due to strong symptoms
-wanted to replicate study and needed p’s to write a statement convincing students to take part

Question 6

What was the procedure in Bocchiaro?

Answer 6

-p’s had to write a letter using positive adjectives and no negative effects of sensory deprivation
-when p’s moved to 2nd room, found mailbox
-if p’s thought the study violated ethical norms, they should put a form in the mailbox
-after 7 mins p’s were given HEXACO-PI-R and decomposed games, probed for suspicion then debriefed
-lasted 40 mins per p

Question 7

What were the results in Bocchiaro ?

Answer 7

-76.5% were obedient
-14% were disobedient
-9.4% were whistle-blowers

Question 8

How do the results compare to the questionnaire?

Answer 8

138 students asked what they would do
-3.6% said they would obey
-31.9% said they would be disobedient
-64.5% said they would whistle-blow

138 students asked what av. student would do
-18.8% said they would be obey
- 43.9% said they would be disobedient
-37.3% said they would whistle-blow

Question 9

What did Bocchiaro conclude ?

Answer 9

• Faith was the only dispositional factor linked to whistleblowing
  -people over estimate tendency to blow the whistle and underestimate likelihood of obedience