Booklet 2: Obedience

Question 1

What is the definition of obedience?

Answer 1

Obedience can be defined as complying with the demands of an authority figure.

Question 2

What year did milgram conduct his experiment?

Answer 2

1963.

Question 3

What was Milgrams aim?

Answer 3

To test the germans are different hypothesis, which claimed that germans are highly obedient and that Adolf Hitler couldn’t have exterminated the jews without the unquestioning cooperation of the german population.

Question 4

What was Milgrams method?

Answer 4

The participants were told that the experiment was about the effects of punishment on learning, with one playing the role of teacher and the other the leaner. The experiment was rigged and therefore the learner was always a confederate. The teacher (the naive participants) would deliver shocks each time a mistake was made in the ‘paired word task’ from 15V (slight shock) to 450 (xxx) going up in 15’s. To convince the participant that the shock was real they received a 45 Volt shock prior to the experiment.

Before 150V the participant is willing to participate, but starts to protest at this point. Protests become stronger at 300 V and refusal to answer questions occurs, saying he has worries for his heart problems. At 315 V he screams loudly, from 330V he is silent. The teacher was instructed to keep on giving shocks through a series of verbal prods, if Mr wallace stopped answering.

Question 5

What were Milgrams findings?

Answer 5

63.5% participants gave shocks all the way up to the voltage of 450V, which means 25 out of 40 participants continued to the maximum voltage. During the experiment, milgram found some participants became very stressed e.g. sweating and agitated.

Question 6

What are milgrams conclusions?

Answer 6

The germans are different hypothesis is clearly false as milgrams participants were 40 ordinary american males and they showed a high level of obedience to the authority of the experimenter. The results therefore show that obeying is normal behaviour in a society that has a hierarchy of power. Many normal people prey orders that distress them and go against their usual moral codes.

Question 7

What are Milgrams variations?

Answer 7

Run down office block, orders are phoned in, teacher is paired with two confederate teachers who don’t obey, teacher only reads doesn’t give the shocks.

Question 8

Explain ‘The study is performed in a run down office block instead of Yale university’ variation…

Answer 8

The obedience rate dropped to 47.5% as the participants won’t have a much trust in the experiment and therefore won’t feel like they have to obey as much.

Question 9

Explain ‘the experimenter is not present in the room, but phones orders in’ variation….

Answer 9

The obedience rate dropped to 20.5% as the participant won’t feel as much pressure to continue.

Question 10

Explain ‘the teacher is paired with two confederate teachers who reuse to obey’ variation…

Answer 10

The obedience rate to 10% as the participants will not feel as bad refusing to continue, if two others are also refusing.

Question 11

Explain ‘The teacher (participant) only reads out the words, but the confederate gives the shocks’ variation…

Answer 11

The obedience rate raised to 92.5% as the participant won’t feel as responsible.

Question 12

What are the evaluation points for validity of milgrams research?

Answer 12

Lacks internal, external and population validity.

Question 13

Explain ‘lacks internal validity’ A02 point…

Answer 13

Psychologists have criticised Milgrams study as they claim that the participants wouldn’t of believed that they were given severe electric shocks and that the leaner wasn’t really in range, so therefore lacks internal validity.

Question 14

Explain ‘lacks external validity’ A02 point…

Answer 14

Researchers have critiscised Milgrams work, as it is a lab based study with an artificial experiment and therefore not a realistic test of obedience in a real life study and hence results can not be generalised so lacks external validity.

Question 15

Explain ‘lacks population validity’ A02 point…

Answer 15

The sample used was all male volunteers, meaning the findings can not be applied to obedience in women. Because the sample had volunteered, they are not representative of the entire population as only certain types of people would respond to an advertisement to take part. This means the sample is bias and lacks population validity.

Question 16

What are the ethical A02 criticisms for Milgrams study?

Answer 16

Protection from harm, deception and informed consent, right to withdraw.

Question 17

Explain ‘protection from harm’….

Answer 17

Participants suffered both mental and physical harm. Mentally participants felt agitated and stressed because they believed they were harming the learner. Physically, participants received a 45V shock prior to the experiment. To solve this, physically you could not give the shock and mentally you could change the electric shocks to something such as negative comments.

Question 18

Explain ‘deception and informed consent’…

Answer 18

The participants were led to believe they were taking part in a test of memory and the effects of punishment so were unaware of the real aim. They therefore didn’t give informed consent of real study because of this. To solve this you could debrief the participants afterwards.

Question 19

Explain ‘right to withdraw’…

Answer 19

They didn’t have the full right to withdraw because they were encouraged to continue by ‘verbal prods’.

Question 20

What are the two further studies of obedience?

Answer 20

Hofling (1966) and Bickman (1974)

Question 21

Explain Hofling’s (1966) research.

Answer 21

Aim- To find out if nurses would obey doctors orders, even if it meant going against hospital procedures and endangering lives.
Procedure- Field experiment in 22 hospitals, USA. Doctor telephoned and asked the nurse to double the dosage.
Findings- 21 out of 22 (95%) went to give the dose and therefore obeyed, 11 of the nurses didn’t even notice it was an overdose.
Conclusion- Higher than Milgram, in a natural real life environment and therefore supports.

Question 22

Explain Bickman (1974)

Answer 22

Aim- To see the effects of uniform on obedience rates.
Procedure- Watched people walk past litter and asked them to pick it up. He did this in two conditions uniform and causal clothes.
Findings- 40% obedience rate in the causal condition, 80% obedience rate in the uniform condition.
Conclusion- This supports milgrams research as it shows we obey an authority figure e.g. someone in uniform.

Question 23

Why do we obey? (explanations)

Answer 23

Legitimate authority, Buffers, Gradual commitment, change in state.

Question 24

Explain Legitimate authority….

Answer 24

Authority figures are symbols of power and status, and as such are difficult to disobey. If we believe somebody is a legitimate authority we believe they have the right to give orders and that we should obey them as they are in a position of power/knowledge.

Question 25

What research supports Legitimate authority?

Answer 25

All studies- Hofling (doctor) , Bickman (guard). Milgram was also carried out in a respected uni, which shows legitimacy.

Question 26

Explain Buffers….

Answer 26

Situational factors such as buffers affect our likelihood of obeying orders. Buffers are barriers which mean we are not fully aware of the consequences of following orders e.g. in war pressing a button to drop a bomb rather than killing in a face to face situation.

Question 27

What research supports buffers?

Answer 27

Milgram variation- when teacher and learner were in the same room.

Question 28

Explain ‘Gradual commitment’….

Answer 28

When a person has initially followed on order, it is very difficult to disobey subsequent orders. This is also known as the foot in the door technique. Once you have committed to something it is very difficult to turn back. The deeper you are, it is more difficult to disobey.

Question 29

What research supports gradual commitment?

Answer 29

Milgrams research as the participants gave gradual electric shocks in 15V.

Question 30

Explain ‘Change in state’….

Answer 30

When we obey we enter the agentic state, we see ourselves as the agent of the authority figure and give up personal responsibility to them. The autonomous state is when we see ourselves responsible for our actions. Therefore if we shift from the autonomous state to the agentic state we are are more likely to obey.

Question 31

What research supports change in state?

Answer 31

Milgrams study- when participants were told that the experimenter took responsibility, they were more willing to obey.

Question 32

What are the two examples of obedience in the real world?

Answer 32

Perception of legitimate authority and gradual commitment.

Question 33

Explain the example of perception of legitimate authority in the real world.

Answer 33

Research has shown that a major factor in 80% of airline accidents is a combo of human error and the power of a captain, leading co-pilots feeling unable to challenge the captains decisions. This knowledge can be used to train staff, therefore staff need to be trained to follow official orders and procedures as well as challenging them if they believe them to be harmful.

Question 34

Explain the example of gradual commitment in the real world.

Answer 34

Milgrams work into obedience can be used to explain the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops in Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. Evidence is shown for gradual commitment where initial abuses were minor, but paved the way for more serious abuse to develop, as nobody in authority acted to prevent the abuse. Low ranking troops were put into a position of authority over prisoners and gradually increased the levels of abuse and dehumanisation.