Factors effecting obedience Flashcards
What are four situational factors which influence obedience?
- Moment of compliance
- Proximity
- Status of the authority
- Personal responsibility
What cultural differences impact on obedience? How?
Individualism
Collectivism
Collectivist cultures would be expected to be more obedient (Hofstede, 1984)
What is an authoritarian personality and how does it influence obedience?
(individual difference/ factor)
People with authoritarian personalities are submissive to authority but harsh to those they see as subordinate - would be more obedient to authority, less to subordinates
What is locus of control
individual difference/ factor
(Rotter, 1966) explains where you identify as the source of your actions.
Internal locus of control
You think you are responsible for your own actions and are not influenced by other factors.
External locus of control
You think your behaviour is heavily caused/effected by factors outside of your control like fate.
Those with an external locus are more able to pass the responsibility to others and thus are more obedient
Individualism
. Promotes individual goals, initiative and achievement. Individual rights are seen as being the most important. e.g. UK and US
Collectivism
Each person is encouraged to do what is best for the group as a whole rather than themselves. e.g. China or Israel
What is empathy and how does it influence obedience
individual factor
Those with high levels of empathy are thought to be less likely to hurt another
How doesn’t gender influence obedience?
individual factor
Sheridan and King (1972) adapted Milgram’s experiment to involve a live puppy which received genuine shocks. Women were much more compliant than men (100%)
How does gender influence obedience?
individual factor
Kilham and Mann (1974) however found females to be far less obedience (16% vs 40%) but this could have been because of some effect with a male experimenter
