Bocchiarro Flashcards
Bocchiaro: Aims
To investigate how people deal with an unjust request
Does personal characteristics have an influence in whether someone obeys or not
Bocchiaro: Design
Controlled observation, Lab, Paradigm
Bocchiaro: Sample
Self-selected - Flyer in Cafeteria
149 Dutch Uni Students
Paid either £7 or given course credit
92 Participants took part in 8 pilot tests - 138 asked to predict behaviour
Bocchiaro: Apparatus
Two rooms
Research committee ethics form - filling it out counted as whistle-blowing
HEXACO-PI-R - Assess 6 traits of personality - 5 point likert scale
Decomposed Games Measure - Prosocial, Individualistic or Competitive
Bocchiaro: how long did the experiment take
Around 48 Minutes
Bocchiaro: Procedure I
Participants were informed about the study. They were given the right to withdraw and they signed consent forms, which guaranteed their confidentiality in the results of the study.
Bocchiaro: The experimenter
Dutch Male, formally dressed, stern demeanour
Bocchiaro: Procedure II
The experimenter proceeded with a request for each participant to provide a few names of fellow students and then presented the cover story.
Participants were to write a statement to convince the students they had previously indicated to participate in the experiment. Statements would be sent to the students by mail.
The experimenter left the room for three minutes to allow participants to reflect on the action-based decisions they were about to make.
Bocchiaro: Procedure III
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.
The participants were instructed to be enthusiastic when writing their statements and they had to use two adjectives such as ‘exciting’, ‘incredible’ and ‘superb’.
They were instructed not to mentioned the negative effects of the sensory deprivation.
The experimenter instructed the participants to begin and then left the participants in alone in the room for 7 minutes.
Bocchiaro: Procedure IV
If a participant believed the proposed research on sensory deprivation violated ethical norms he/she could anonymously challenge it by putting a form in the mailbox.
After the seven-minute interval the experimenter returned and invited the participant to follow him back to the first room where he/she was administered two personality inventories, probed for suspicion, fully debriefed and asked to sign a second consent form, this time fully informed.
Bocchiaro: Results - Predicted
18.8% Obey
43.9% Disobey
37.9% Whistle-Blow
Bocchiaro: Actual Results
114/149 Obeyed (76.5)
21/149 Disobeyed (14.1%)
14/149 Blew the Whistle (9.4%)
No significant differences were found in any of the groups in relation to gender or religion
Significant difference was observed with regard to faith
No statistically significant differences in any of the six personality factors measured by the HEXACO-PI-R
Prosocial and individualistic participants were not unequally distributed among the three groups
“It was expected of me, that’s why I continued’’, ‘‘I cooperated because the experimenter asked me to’’
‘‘I disobeyed because I felt responsible towards friends’’
Bocchiaro: Conclusion
Behaving morally appears to be challenging even when appears to be easy
People can claim what they or others will do in a situation, but they are often wrong. People act far differently than how they claim they would behave.
people tend to obey authority figures, even if the request is unethical.
Bocchiaro: Methodology
+ Lab experiment - controlled - scientific
+ Standardized conditions
- Demand Characteristics
Bocchiaro: Methodology
+ Lab experiment - scientific
+ Controlled - limits extraneous variables
+ Cause and effect
+ Standardized conditions
- Demand Characteristics
