Bocchiaro 2012

Question 1

background

Answer 1

whistle blower is someone who will report unethical doings of others

Question 2

aim

Answer 2

to investigate responses to people in authority while giving them the opportunity to obey or whistle blow
understand individual or situational explanations to certain situations

Question 3

method

Answer 3

lab or scenario study

Question 4

sampling method

Answer 4

self selecting
P recruited via flyers in VU uni

Question 5

sample

Answer 5

149 Undergrads form VU uni
96 Women
53 Men
mean age 20.8

Question 6

pilot studies

Answer 6

8 pilot studies
92 students participated
- ensure the cover story was credible
-standardise the experimenter - authority figure behaviour
-ensure the deceit was morally acceptiable

Question 7

surveys procedure

Answer 7

138 volunteer undergrad students given an outline of the study and asked what they thought they would do/typical uni student would do

Question 8

procedure

Answer 8

-male experimenter asks P to give a few names of other students
-told the cover story, asked to write a testimonial to convince the students they had named to P in the ‘case study’
-told not to mention the negative effects and to be enthusiastic using adjectives like exciting and incredible
-P were told the research committee were still considering whether to give a permit to carry out the study and that in the next room there were forms to ANANOLMSLY report the study. (WHISTLEBLOW)
-left in a room for 7 minutes to type testimonial or fill in form
-debriefed about the deception - the study was a cover story

Question 9

cover story (equipment)

Answer 9

outlined a made up sensory deprivation study that “has been conducted on 6 people already”
results = showed all P panicked, cognitive abilities impaired, fitted hallucinations both visual and auditory
2 asked to stop the experiment which was NOT permitted (violates right to withdraw)

Question 10

equipment

Answer 10

HEXACO-PI-R personality test
the decomposed games measure social values-extent to which personal values helps others over self
self report on religious beliefs and attitudes

Question 11

the decomposed games explained

Answer 11

a nine item test that assesses how much importance a person places on the welfare of another person in relation to their own welfare

Question 12

findings

Answer 12

-people tend to obey authority figures even if unethical
-people act differently to how they claim or others would behave
-responses to people in authority are not related to personality dimensions measured by HEXACO or anything else
-suggests mostly influenced by
situation
-some individual factors are related to responses to figures in authority - those with faith disobeyed authority figures orders more often

Question 13

stats results

Answer 13

76.5% obeyed the experimenter
14.1% disobeyed
6% anonymously blew the whistle and wrote the testimonial
3.4% refused to write the testimonial and just filled in the ethics form