Bocchiaro Et Al 2012 Flashcards

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1
Q

What was the aim?

A

To investigate obedience, whistleblowing and disobedience in a situation where there was no physical violence but was clear the instructions were ethically wrong

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2
Q

Why were pilot studies carried out?

A

To see if the procedure was believable and ethically acceptable

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3
Q

How many pilot studies were carried out and on how many participants?

A

8 with 92 ppts

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4
Q

Who were the participants?

A

149 undergraduate students from VU uni Amsterdam (96 women 53 men)

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5
Q

Why were 11 ppts removed?

A

They were suspicious about the study

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6
Q

How were participants recruited?

A

Through flyers posted in uni cafe, they were all volunteers

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7
Q

How was the studied carried out?

A

In lab conditions

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8
Q

How much were ppts paid?

A

7 euros or given course credit

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9
Q

Who were they met by when they arrived?

A

A stern experimenter

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10
Q

What was the cover story?

A

The experimenter was investigating the effects of sensory deprivation on brain function. It was recently conducted on 6 ppts in Rome who spend time isolated unable to see or hear anything, they all had bad effects, all panicked and their cognitive abilities were impaired. The experimenters wanted to repeat this at VU uni as there was no data on young people and scientists thought their brains would be more sensitive to negative effects of isolation. A uni research committee was evaluating whether to approve of the study and were collecting feedback from students to help them make a decision. Ppts were told the forms were in the next room.

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11
Q

What were ppts asked to do?

A

Write a statement convincing other students to take part in the sensory deprivation procedure

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12
Q

What verbs were they asked to use?

A
2 from the list:
Exciting 
Incredible 
Great 
Superb 
Asked not to mention the negative effects of sensory deprivation
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13
Q

Where were the ppts left?

A

In a room with a computer, mailbox and some ethics committee forms

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14
Q

What did the ppts do if they thought the study was unethical?

A

Complete a form and put it in a mailbox

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15
Q

How was obedience, disobedience and whistleblowing assessed?

A

Obedience/disobedience assessed by whether they wrote the statement
Whistleblowing was assessed by whether or not they completed an ethics form and mailed it - could’ve been anonymous

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16
Q

What happened after 7 minutes?

A

The experimenter came back and led the ppt to the first room where they were given a set of dispositional measures

17
Q

What were the dispositional measures?

A

The HEXACO-PI-R personality trait which measured 6 personality traits
The decomposed games measure of social values
Ppts were asked what their religion was

18
Q

What happened after the experiment?

A

Ppts were debriefed and told the purpose of the study. They were asked not to discuss the study with their family and friends and they had to complete a second consent form to say their data could be used

19
Q

Were ppts informed about the procedure before?

A

Yes they were told they had the right to withdraw, their data would be confidential and they had to sign a consent form

20
Q

What were the predicted results?

A

138 students from VU uni said:

  1. 6% of people said they they would obey
  2. 9% said they would disobey
  3. 5% said they would be a whistleblower
21
Q

What were the actual results?

A

Obedient - 76.5%
Disobedient - 14.1%
Whistle-blower - 9.4%
No big differences were found in any of the dispositional measures

22
Q

What are the conclusions?

A

People are very obedient
People will obey unjust orders from authority figures
People think they will be different to what they actually are
The situation makes people behave differently
Behaving in a moral manner is hard for people

23
Q

Background

A

A new way was invented to measure obedience - whistleblowing - reporting an unethical request to higher authorities
They wanted to know if there were personal characteristics that differentiate them from those who obey

24
Q

What research method was used?

A

Laboratory study as no IV

Procedure was very standardised

25
Q

How long did it last?

A

Approx 40 minutes