Explanations of obedience Flashcards
What is obedience?
A form of social influence that is in direct response to an order from another person
Key study: Milgram
Milgram (1963)
Aim: To investigate whether ordinary people would obey an unjust order from an authority figure and inflict pain on an innocent person.
Method: 40 male American participants were paid $4.50 to take part. Everyone was invited to a laboratory at Yale university where they met another participant and the experimenter (who were both confederates). They ‘drew lots’ to see who would be assigned to each role but this was fixed so that the real participant was always the ‘teacher’ and was instructed by the experimenter to administer an electric shock of increasing strength to the ‘learner’ who was strapped by the arms into a chair. Each time the learner got a word pair wrong, the teacher administered an electric shock starting at 15 volts and going up in 15 until 450 volts.
Results: Milgram found all participants went to at least 300 volts and 65% continued and administered the full 450 volts. (in the agentic state). Participants also showed signs of distress and tension eg. sweating, trembling
Conclusion: He concluded that under the right situational circumstances, ordinary people will obey unjust orders from someone perceived to be an authority figure.
Evaluate Milgram
- The study broke several ethical guidelines. He deceived his participants by making them believe they were taking part in a study on how punishment affects learning rather than obedience. He failed to protect participants from psychological harm since they were showing signs of real distress and continued feeling guilty after the experiment.
- Lacks population validity from using 40 american males. results cannot be generalised to females or other populations
What are the situational explanations for obedience and how did Milgram test these in his variations?
Proximity:
- refers to how close you are to someone or something.
- In one of his variations, the teacher and the learner were seated in the same room, percentage of participants who administered the full 450 volts dropped from 65% to 40% because the teacher was able to understand the learners pain more directly.
- In one of his variations, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions over the telephone, obedience levels fell to 20.5%
Location:
- One of his variations was conducted in a rundown building. The percentage of participants who administered the full 450 volts dropped from 65% to 47.5% highlighting the importance of location in creating an atmosphere generating respect and obedience.
Uniform:
- In one of his variations, the experimenter (a confederate) wore a white lab coat and acted like an ordinary member of the public. The percentage of participants who administered the full 450 volts dropped from 65% to 20% highlighting the power of uniform.
What is the agentic state?
When an individual carries out orders from an authority figure and acts as their ‘agent’ with little personal responsibility for their actions.
What is the autonomous state?
When a person acts independently
What is the agentic shift?
Shift from autonomy to agency
What is the legitimacy of authority?
Refers to the right of an authority figure to have power and control over others.
How was the legitimacy of authority changed in Milgrams study?
When he conducted one of his variations in a rundown building, obedience levels dropped to 47.5% which reduced the legitimacy of authority since participants were less likely to trust the experiment so the power of the authority figure was diminished.
Evaluate explanations for obedience
- Explanations for obedience can have a nomothetic approach since they attempt to provide general principles relating to human behaviour when people respond to orders of an authority figure.
- Milgram only used male participants which is beta bias, it is androcentric since the results cannot be generalised to females.
