Bocchiaro Flashcards
What was Bocchiaro’s aim?
To investigate the rates of obedience, disobedience and whistle blowing in a situation where no physical violence was involved but where it was quite clear that the instructions were ethically wrong.
What was the research method?
A lab experiment although there was no IV so it may also be called a scenario study.
How many pilot studies were conducted?
8
Why were the pilot studies conducted?
To ensure the procedure was credible and morally acceptable. They also served to standardise the experimenter authority behaviour throughout the whole experimental period.
Where did the study take place?
A lab at VU university in Amsterdam
What did the comparison group predict they would do?
- 3.6% obey
- 31.9% disobey
- 64.5% whistle blow
What did the comparison group predict the behaviour of other typical students at their university would be?
- 18.8% obey
- 43.9% disobey
- 37.3% whistle blow
How many people were in the comparison group?
138
Describe the sample (4 points).
- 149 undergraduate students
- From VU university
- 96 women, 53 men
- Mean age of 20.8
How many people were removed from the original 160 participants?
11 because of their suspiciousness about the nature of the study.
What was the cover story about?
Investigating the effects of sensory deprivation on brain function.
What was the procedure?
- Participants were informed about the task and about their right to withdraw.
- Each participant was greeted by a male, Dutch experimenter, who was formally dressed and had a stern demeanour, in a lab.
- The participants were asked to provide a few names of fellow students and then presented the cover story about the effects of sensory deprivation on brain function.
- Participants were to write a statement to convince students they had indicated to participate.
- The experimenter left the room for 3 minutes to allow participants to reflect on the decisions.
- Participants were then moved to a second room where there was a computer for them to use to write their statement, a mailbox and the research committee forms.
- They were told to be enthusiastic when writing their statement. (Use 2 of : exciting, incredible, great and superb) Negative effects weren’t to be mentioned.
- The experimenter told the participants to begin and left the room for 7 minutes.
- If a participant believed the proposal research violated ethical norms they could anonymously challenge it by putting a form in the mailbox.
What were the results for the experiment?
- 76.5% obey
- 14.1% disobey
- 9.4% whistle blow
—> 6.0% wrote a message (anonymous)
—> 3.4% refused to do so (open)
What were the 2 personality inventories?
- HEXACO (measures 6 personality factors)
2. Social Value Orientation (decomposed games (pro-social, individualistic or competitive personality)).
What were the dispositions results found from the personality tests?
- no significant differences were found in any of the groups in relation to gender, religious affiliation or religious involvement. However, there was a trend with those who had high faith whistleblowing.
- results for individual differences in personality among the 3 groups showed no statistically significant difference in any of the 6 personality factors measured using HEXACO.
- results in terms of SVO showed that pro-social and individualistic participants were not unequally distributed among the 3 groups.
