Explanaions Of Obedience - Situational Factors

Question 1

Variations of milgram experiment

Answer 1

• proximity
• location
• uniform

Question 2

Proximity

Answer 2

• how close you are to someone
  E.g teacher to learner or experiment or to learner
• teacher to learner - 450 Volts dropped from 65% to 40% - understand learners pain
• experimenter left room- dropped 20.5% - instructions over phone

Question 3

Location

Answer 3

• orgianal - Yale
• conducted variation in run down building
• 450 V dropped 655 to 47.5 %
• creates prestigious atmosphere - respect and obedience

Question 4

Uniform

Answer 4

• experimenter wore white lab coat - indicates status
• replace with experimenter with normal clothes - increase voltage every time learner makes mistakes
• 450 Volts - 65% to 20% - uniform dramatic power on obedience

Question 5

Strength

Answer 5

• french documentary focus on Milgram
• additional factor of popularity
• La Zone Extreme
• 40 euros to take part as ‘pilot’ for show - administer shock to trained actors for no answers
• only 20% chose to end game before highest voltage

Question 6

Strength

Answer 6

• train puppy to learn discrimination task- punish real electric shocks when made error
• ppts see and hear squeals
  -anaesthetic in puppy- fell asleep
• 75% pps delivered max shock
• 54% male
• 100% female

Question 7

Strength

Answer 7

• obedient nurse
• 22 nurses- instructed to give 20mg made up drug- said was in desperate hurry
• if obeyed- exceed max dosage
• 21/22 nurses obeyed - 11 not noticed dosage discrepancy

Question 8

Positive

Answer 8

• 3 male researchers - orders 153 pedestrians in New York
• researchers dressed up in suit and tie, milkman and guard uniform
• gave orders
• more likely , 80%, to obey guard than milkman or civilian , 40%

Question 9

Weakness

Answer 9

• not generalised across all cultures
• Smith and Bond - 2 no-western culture had milgram experiment replicated
• if not replicated - variation more likely not replaced reducing generalisation across cultures

Question 10

Weakness

Answer 10

• ethics
• milgram deceived ppts as thought harming learning - caused psychological and physical harm
• crosses boundaries- not acceptable today