factors affecting obedience - situation and culture Flashcards
define situation
features of the immediate physical and social environment that may influence a person’s behaviour.
define culture
the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of people.
how does legitimacy affect obedience?
reducing the legitimacy of the authority figure can reduce obedience
- this can be done through changing their clothing
reducing the status of the venue (as done in Milgram’s run down office block variation) also leads to reductions in obedience
how does proximity affect obedience?
increase distance = decrease obedience
- e.g. the telephonic instructions variation
LATANE (1981) used immediacy in SIT to refer to the closeness of the target to the source.
- physical and psychological barriers to communication will impact the obedience rates.
how does the behaviour of others affect obedience?
exposure to role models will decrease obedience
- in Milgram’s variation there were two further ‘teachers’ who refused to go on and obedience dropped to 10%
what is a strength of the situation explanation?
there is much evidence that shows how legitimacy, proximity and behaviour of others affects obedience.
- MEEUS AND RAAIJMAKERS (1995) asked ppts to deliver mean comments to another person. obedience was at 90% with the experimenter in the room but fell to 36% when he left and 16% when there were rebels in the room with them.
what is the competing argument to the strength of the situation explanation?
in all of Milgram’s variations there were individual differences - some people refused to continue which shows that PERSONALITY is a key factor in obedience
what is the application of the situation explanation?
research on situational factors has been applied to improve compliance with countryside rules
- many people disobey the rules in the countryside due to the lack of someone watching
GRAMANN (1995) found that if the signs had reasons why the rules were there it provided immediacy
why are collectivist cultures more obedient?
individualistic cultures value personal autonomy and self-reliance whereas collectivist cultures value loyalty to the group, interdependence and cooperation for SHARED GOALS
- individualistic cultures may be less obedient due to value placed on self rather than group
what is the POWER DISTANCE INDEX?
the PDI refers to how accepting people are of hierarchical order and inequality.
- in high PDI cultures, lesser people are told what to do by those above them.
what questions the PDI explanation?
India has a PDI score of 77% but an obedience rate 42.5% and females were significantly less obedient than males
- women are the heads of the households and in control.
what is a strength of cultural explanations?
there is a close relationship between obedience and the PDI rate.
