Explanations For Obidience Flashcards
Outline the procedure of milligrams obedience study
- 40 male volunteers
- all had the role of a teacher paired with a Confederate learner
- The teacher would ask the learner questions, and when a wrong answer was given the teacher was instructed to administer an electric shock
- The shock started at 15 V (labelled slight shock) rising in 15 V increments to 450 V (severe shock)
- if no answer was given it was wrong
- if the teacher hesitated he was encouraged to continue by the researcher, with phrases like “ please continue” and “ The experiment requires you to continue” “it’s absolutely necessary you continue” “you have no other choice but to continue”
- NO shocks administered
- p’s debriefed afterwards
What were the findings of milligrams obedience study
BASELINE = 65% obiedience up to full 450V
100% went up to 300V
- most p’s showed signs of anxiety and discomfort but continued
What were the conclusions of milligrams obedience study
- Under certain circumstances people will obey against their conscience
- Supports the idea of an agentic state
Discuss the AO3 point of ethical issues within Milgram study
- Ethical issues including deceiving psychological harm and the right to withdraw made difficult
+ Milgram gathered presumptive consent (asking a similar group of people if they would be happy to participate)
+ Debriefed the participants and 84% were glad they participated
Discuss the AO3 Point of gender bias within milgrams obedience study
- Milgram said he had gender bias as The sample consisted of only 40 men so findings couldn’t be applied to women
+ Blass (2000) Found in eight out of 9 Milgram variations he studied there were no apparent gender differences
What is an agentic state
- when a person carries out orders on behalf of somebody else with little regard for personal responsibility as they believe the authority figure is responsible
How does legitimacy of authority explain obedience
People feel obliged to follow figures with a defined role in society e.g. Police or teachers
- this is because we put trust in these figures And assume they are right

What are the three SITUATIONAL factors affecting obedience
- Proximity
- Location
-Uniform
How does location affect obedience
- when the study was conducted in a rundown office block obedience dropped to 48%
How does proximity affect obedience
- when the experimenter was absent and gave instructions over the telephone obedience dropped to 21%
- when the teacher and learner were in the same room obedience dropped to 40%
- When the teacher had to force the learner’s hand onto the shock plate obedience dropped further to 30%
How does uniform affect obedience
- Uniforms convey power and authority
- in a variation when the experimenter is called away and replaced by a normal clothed experimenter obedience dropped to 20%
Explain Bickmans research and how it supports uniform affecting obedience
- field experiment on the streets of New York with 153 random participants
- confederate dressed either in a suit, as a milkman or as a security guard would ask participants to pay for a parking meter or collect rubbish
- obedience was 38% for the security guard yet only 19% for the confederate in a suit
What is meant by dispositional factor
Suggest behaviour is caused by internal characteristics that reside within an individuals personality
What are the characteristics of an authoritarian personality
- conformist and obedient
- Believe in hierarchical structure, Serville out of those higher and hostile to those weaker
What did Adorno suggest creates an authoritarian personality
- Harsh and distant Parenting
- Resentment and hostility towards parents is Displaced onto weaker groups
Explain the procedure of Adorno’s F scale
- Measures conventionalism and preoccupation with power
- 2000 middle-class Americans took a questionnaire
- Collecting their unconscious opinions on groups

Outline the findings from Adornos F scale 
- A high score was an indicator of an authoritarian personality
- people who scored highly showed
High respect for people of high social status
Low respect/prejudice towards weaker groups
Inflexibility and strong ideas
A03 valuation of authoritarian personality
+ Elms and Milgram, Took 20 obedient and 20 disobedient from milligrams original study
Showed obedient participants scored higher on the F scale and had a more distant relationship with their fathers
- Research is only correlational so it’s impossible to establish cause-and-effect
- cultural bias, Hyman and Sheatsley Found authoritarian personality is more common and less educated low economic areas
- The F skill relies on self-report which is open to bias, for example, the scale is prone to acquiescence bias—the tendency for people to agree. agreeing on the scale leads to a high score
outline Hoflings research and how it supports agentic state
- studied obedience of 22 nurses in a field experiment
- a medical doctor who was on the staff list, but was not known
personally to a nurse, called her asking her to administer twice the maximum daily dose - 21/22 nurses administered the drug despite not knowing of the drug and going against hospital rules
evaluation of Hofling’s nurse’s study
+ better representation of obedience in real life
- Rank and Jacobson conducted the same study but the nurses were asked to administer an overdose of a real drug (valium), knew the doctor’s name and had a chance to speak to other nurses. only 2/18 obeyed the orders suggesting that the more realistic the situation the less likely obedience is to occur.
