Factors affecting obedience

Question 1

Individual differences
-Locus of control
- AO1

Answer 1

-Internal loc- people believe that they are responsible for own actions
- External loc- people believe other factors are the explanation for their actions

AO3- Milgram v7, 10, 13, orignial;
P’s were asked to judge who was responsible for giving shocks, those who disobeyed (48%) put the blame on themselves- didn’t go to 450v
OTOH- study was not generalisable

Question 2

Individual differences
-Authoritarian personality
-AO1

Answer 2

• More submissive to authority and obey people they perceive have authority over them, don’t like weakness- measured on F scale

AO3- Milgram+ Elms compared F scale for 20 obedient and 20 defiant p’s for one of milligrams variation. Higher F score- those were obedient
OTOH- individual differences

Question 3

Individual differences
- Empathy
- AO1

Answer 3

• Ability to understand others and share their feelings

AO3- burger replicated milligrams study; found that higher on empathy protested more to giving the shocks. They still have shocks to 150v
OTOH- p’s still gave shocks to max voltage of 150

Question 4

Situational factors
- Momentum of compliance
- AO1

Answer 4

-When you Strat with small requests to get high obedience then increase level of request and obedience will increase

AO3- milgram; P’s started at 15v, increased t 30/40. Small to Start then 300v was huge
OTOH- lacks mundane realism

Question 5

Situational Factors
- Status of authority figure
-AO1

Answer 5

-The perceived authority that a person has

AO3-Milgram v10; p’s started to question the authority of Bridgeport associate- obedience reduced from 60% to 48%

Question 6

Situational Factors
-Proximity
-AO1

Answer 6

-How close/recent was the order/ authority figure
- Higher proximity= higher obedience

AO3- Milgram v7; obedience reduced from 65% to 22.5% when instructions were given over the telephone.

Question 7

Situational Factors
- Personal responsibility
-AO1

Answer 7

• If the individual takes full responsibility for their actions are less obedient

AO3-Milgrams variation; asked p’s to sign a contract before the study accepting full responsibility for their own actions not Yale University- obedience reduced from 65% to 22.5%

Question 8

Gender
-AO1

Answer 8

• Whether you are male or female individuals develop a sense of gender identity through socialisation or through biology.
• Gender stereotypes affect how we perceive ourselves and others

Question 9

Gender
-AO1

Answer 9

• Females are stereotypically more obedient than males due to social norms and socialisation

AO3- Sheridan and King; they adapted milgrams study and used a live puppy as a victim that received shocks- 100% women shocked live puppy, 54% males did
OTOH- killham+ mann found that women are less obedient

Question 10

Cultural factors
-Collectivist culture
-AO1

Answer 10

• collectivist cultures such a china or Israel tent to believe that the needs of the group is more important than the individual

AO3- Smith+ Bond; found people from CC are more likely to obey
OTOH- Bass conducted a meta analysis of milligrams study and found no difference between culture and obedience

Question 11

Cultural factors
-AO1

Answer 11

-Individualistic culture; Uk or America when the needs of the individual are more important than the needs of the group
-Multicultural; several different cultures living in the same environment
-Assimilation; if a person moves into different cultures they should adopt the values of that culture.