Factors Affecting Obedience

Question 1

What are the 3 main factors that affect obedience?

Answer 1

Individual Differences
Situation
Culture

Question 2

What individual differences relating to personality affect obedience?

Answer 2

Empathic Concern
Authoritarianism
Locus of Control

Question 3

What is Empathic Concern?

Answer 3

This relates to the tendency to experience emotions, such as sympathy and compassion for those in need.

People with high levels of empathic concern would find it difficult to follow orders to harm others due to higher levels of compassion.

Question 4

What is Authoritarianism?

Answer 4

Theodor Adorno came up with this personality type.

Authoritarian personalities are submissive to authority figures. They take great pleasure in being the authority figure themselves and are oppressive to those they see as subordinate (weaker).

Therefore more likely to be obedient due to how highly they respect authority figures.

Question 5

What is an Internal Locus of Control?

Answer 5

The belief that you are in control of what you do and what happens to you.

Take greater responsibility for their actions.

Less likely to be obedient as they believe they can control their own actions.

Question 6

What is an External Locus of Control?

Answer 6

The belief that what happens to you is determined more by the situation and people around them, circumstances they believe are out of their control.

Take less responsibility for their actions.

More likely to be obedient as they believe behaviour is out of their control.

Question 7

Name 2 strengths of personality being an individual difference that affects obedience

Answer 7

Elms and Milgram - found fully obedient individuals scored higher on the F-Scale measuring authoritarianism compared to defiant ppts.

Oliner and Oliner - 406 people who protected Jews during WW2 were more likely to have a higher internal locus of control, in comparison to the 126 people who had followed Nazi orders.

Question 8

Name 2 weaknesses of personality being an individual difference that affects obedience

Answer 8

Burger - found that although people who scored high on empathy were more likely to protect against giving electric shocks, this did not translate into lower levels of obedience.

Holland - ran variations of Milgram’s studies and found no correlation between locus of control and obedience.

Question 9

What does the gender role schema theory suggest?

Answer 9

We are socialised into developing a sense of masculinity or femininity from a very early age - often based on stereotypes.

Question 10

Name 2 strengths of gender being an individual difference that affects obedience

Answer 10

Sheridan and King - adapted Milgram’s procedure to involve genuine shocks received by a puppy. 100% of females were more compliant and delivered max shock level compared to 54% of males.

Kilham and Mann - carried out a direct replication of Milgram’s study in Australia. 16% of females were obedient compared to 40% of males.

Question 11

Name 2 weaknesses of gender being an individual difference that affects obedience

Answer 11

Burger - found gender differences are minimal therefore supporting Milgram’s original research that gender is less of a factor in obedience compared to others such as culture.

Blass - reviewed 10 obedience experiments and found obedience between males and females consistent across 9. In other words, there was no evidence of gender differences.

Question 12

What is the momentum of compliance?

Answer 12

If you start off with small requests that individuals will generally comply with, they will find it more difficult to say no as demands get progressively worse.

Question 13

What factors of situation can affect obedience?

Answer 13

Proximity
Momentum of Compliance
Location
Status
Isolation

Question 14

Name 2 strengths of the situation affecting obedience

Answer 14

Milgram - Experiment 7 shows the influence of proximity on obedience levels because he found that 22.5% of ppts obeyed to max voltage when the experimenter was in a different room compared to 65% when he was there.

Milgram - supports momentum of compliance as the shocks went up in increments of 15v. By starting small and increasing gradually it caused ppts to commit and feel bound to continue.

Question 15

If a culture values deference, what does this mean? How does it affect obedience?

Answer 15

They would believe it important to show respect and follow leaders. This means they are more likely to be obedient as they will be more compliant to authority figures.

Question 16

If a culture values justice, what does this mean? How does it affect obedience?

Answer 16

They might feel an obligation to obey if they’ve previously signed a contract or received payment.
They might feel less worried about obeying if the victim seems to deserve punishment.

Question 17

What is power distance?

Answer 17

The degree to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

People in high power distance cultures (eg Russia, China, Malaysia) are more likely to follow a hierarchy where everybody has a place and does not require further justification. - more likely to be obedient due to value put on hierarchy

Question 18

What is an individualistic society?

Answer 18

tend to behave more independently and are expected to look after themselves and their immediate families.
(eg USA, UK, Canada)

Less likely to be obedient as less likely to conform.

Question 19

What is a collectivist society?

Answer 19

Tend to behave as a collective group based on interdependence. Individuals can expect members of their in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioned loyalty.
(eg China, Pakistan, Venezuela)

More likely to be obedient as more likely to conform

Question 20

What aspects of culture can affect obedience?

Answer 20

Deference
Justice
Power distance
individualism vs collectivism

Question 21

Name 2 weaknesses of culture affecting obedience

Answer 21

Meeus and Raaijmakers - carried out their obedience study in Holland (high individualism score). They found 92% of ppts were fully obedient.

The findings of the studies above would suggest that culture alone is enough to influence obedience, and other factors may well have a greater role to play.