Conformity:siutational Variables Flashcards
Outline proximity as a situational variable
- in milgrams original study, the teacher and learner were in adjoining rooms
- in the proximity variation, they were in the same room and the rate of obedience dropped to 40%
- an even more dramatic version, where teacher had to force learners hand on a ‘electroshock plate’, obedience dropped to 30%
Outline location as a situational variable
- location was changed from the university to a run down building
- so experimenter had seemingly less authority, obedience dropped to 47.5%
Outline uniform as a situational variable
- in the variation, the experimenter was called away because of a telephone call
- he was replaced by an ‘ordinary member of the public’ (confed) in everyday clothes
- obedience dropped to 20%
What are the three evaluation points for milgrams situational variables
- research support
- lack of internal validity
- cross-cultural replications
Outline ‘research support’ as an evaluation point for situational variables
-in a field study in NY, Bickman had 3 confeds dress in different outfits: security guard, milkman uniform and a jacket and tie
- confed’s stood in the street and asked passers by to do tasks, e.g. picking up litter
- people were 2x as likely to obey the confed dressed in the security guard uniform than the jacket and tie
Outline ‘lack of internal validity ’ as an evaluation point for situational variables
- orne and Holland - criticised milgrams original study because they believed many ppts worked out the procedure was fake
- it is likely, this was even more so in the situational variations because of the extra manipulation
- so the studies do not test what milgram set out to test
Outline ‘cross-cultural replications ’ as an evaluation point for situational variables
- findings have been replicated in other cultures
- e.g. Miranda et al - found an obedience rate of over 90% among Spanish students, so milgrams findings are not confined to American males
- however, smith and bond argued that most replications have only taken place in western developed societies
