Factors affecting obedience Flashcards
What do we mean by personality?
A series of enduring traits about a person which are consistent across situations
What are the personality traits which affect obedience?
Locus of Control, Empathy and Authoritarian personality/Right Wing Authoritarianism
What are the situational factors which affect obedience?
1) Momentum of compliance 2) Proximity 3) Legitimacy of authority 4) Responsibility in the situation
What is gender in terms of obedience research?
The traits of being male or female which is partially innate via biology and partially through socialisation
What is meant by momentum of compliance?
Starting with small requests then gradually increasing them.
What is empathy?
Your ability to feel emotions of others
What is an internal and external locus of control?
Internal you think you are responsible for your behaviour and external you think it is other factors
How does Locus of Control impact obedience?
People with an internal locus of control will be less obedient.
How does proximity impact obedience?
The closer the authority figure is when giving the order, the more obedient the target will be.
What is an issue with looking at personality as an influence on obedience?
They’re often measured through self-reports making them less valid due to social desirability
Which study shows the importance of an authority figure?
Milgram variation 13
What is used to measure Authoritarian Personality?
The F-Scale
What did Milgram & Elms find?
That the more obedient participants in Milgram’s research scored higher on authoritarian personality.
How does internal locus of control impact obedience?
You believe you are responsible for your own actions so are less influenced by authority figures.
What did Burger find about empathy?
Burger found that more empathetic people protested more but were no less obedient.
What did Sheridan & King find?
That females were more obedient than males when asked to electrocute puppies.
What is a collectivist culture and what impact does this have on obedience?
A culture where the group wishes are more important than the individual wishes and it makes them more obedient as they forgo their own wishes to obey for the group benefit
What did Burger find about gender and obedience?
Gender had little to no impact on obedience levels
What did Kilham and Mann find?
Women were less obedient (16pc vs 40pc)
What did Dambrun & Vatine (2010) find?
Those high in the trait of authoritarian personality were less likely to withdraw and more likely to punish.
What situational factor did the study of Sedekides and Jackson support?
Authority figure- the zoo keeper got higher obedience than a normally dressed man
What did Smith and Bond find?
Collectivist cultures were more obedient than individualistic ones
When one of Milgrams variations asked participants to sign a contract before taking part in the research which stated they were taking part of their own free will and no legal responsibility would be taken by Yale University, what happened?
Obedience fell
What study can be used to demonstrate momentum of compliance?
Milgram with the shock generator going up in 15v increments
Which study supports proximity as a factor?
Milgram variation 7 with the telephone study where 22.5pc obeyed
