~Class #13 - Obedience Flashcards
What is Obedience?
Obedience is a form of social influence in which somebody follows the direct command of an authority figure
What is the difference between Obedience and Conformity?
Conformity has to do with indirect pressures to go along with the norms and behaviours of a given group, it’s more implicit pressure, whereas there is a direct demand and pressure in Obedience.
What is the difference between Obedience and Compliance?
Compliance and obedience do overlap a lot conceptually, but the way that people will often make the distinction is that when we use the term compliance, we are typically talking about situations in which the person makes a request or nudges you toward a particular behaviour. It’s more along the lines of “will you do this?” When we talk about obedience, we are looking more at the direct commands to behave in a certain way. So if compliance is, “will you do this?” then obedience involves somebody telling you to do this, not a request, but an order for you to choose whether or not to follow.
From a conceptual standpoint some people will think of ___ as this broader umbrella term and ____ is the more narrow subset, a more narrow form of ____.
compliance // obedience // compliance
The ___ is central to what we typically mean when we talk about obedience.
direct command
Which psychologist/researcher pioneered the study of obedience in social psychology, and whos studies are the ones that make their way into big picture discussions about human nature and evil and tyranny?
Stanley Milgram
What was the shocking thing about Milgram’s experiments?
The extent to which people were willing to shock someone. In many versions of the study, a full 65% of participants kept going, ignoring the learner’s protests and continued to administer increasingly intense shock to the learner.
When Milgram asked different groups how many of the participants they thought would go all the way to the end and administer the maximum, most severe amount of shock available to them, what % did they estimate?
1-2%
What do Milgrams shock experiments show about social forces?
This study really highlights the fact that it’s easy to discount the social forces that might push us to obey in situations that we would otherwise think are morally out of bounds that we would never do.
When Milgram initially ran his study with Yale students, and was surprised at how many were willing to go all the way to the maximum shock, and thought that it had to do with them, and that not everyone would act like that, what error was he falling victim to?
the fundamental attribution error
What is one of the central insights of Milgram’s work?
That under the right circumstances, the situation can put pressure on people to obey orders in cases where they otherwise would never think of doing so.
What was the ethos around Milgram’s studies?
People’s desire to understand and explain things like the Holocaust and other historical atrocities.
In the Classic version of Milgram’s experiments, how many participants gave the maximum shock?
65%
Milgram’s study was engineered to maximize the chances of ___.
obedience
In Milgram’s experiment, when was there the first expression of pain?
75V
In Milgram’s experiment, when did the learner first ask to be let out?
150V
In Milgram’s experiment, when does the learner stop answering questions?
300V
What is a key element of Milgrams study that fosters obedience?
A key element of the design is that step by step escalation
The step by step escalation in Milgrams study is reminiscent of the ___ concept.
foot in-the-door
When allowed to choose shock levels, only ___% administer the maximum shock.
2%
