L4 - Situational Variables affecting Obedience Flashcards
Define obedience
a type of social influence where individuals act in response to the direct order of an authority figure. It also implies that the responder would not have responded in that way if they hadn’t been ordered to
What factors impact obedience?
5
uniform
gradual commitment
contractual obligations
proximity
location
How does uniform impact obedience?
Easily recognisable, conveys power + authority
Bushman - Parking meter study
Researcher dressed as policewoman, business executive or beggar
asked for change for a man for a parking meter from participants
Uniform/police = 72% obedience
Beggar = 52%
Business executive = 48%
However some say this could be testing sympathy, not obedience (beggar = pity)
How does gradual commitment impact obedience?
Individual asked to perform seemingly harmless shocks initially.
Once the person has complied with such requests, they find it increasingly difficult to refuse to carry out more serious (& escalating) shocks.
‘The foot in the door’ effect is explained by the desire to be consistent. The increments were only 15V.
How does contractual obligations impact obedience?
People felt obliged to continue cause they had agreed to take part, (to help scientific research) – this is quite a flattering self-perspective
How does proximity impact obedience?
In a variation, both teacher and learner were in the same room, obedience fell to 40%
could feel how learner felt and felt more directly responsible for pain
In a ‘touch proximity’ variation, teacher had to force learners hand onto the shock plate, obedience fell by 30%
When the experimenter gave his prods via telephone, obedience fell to just 21%
Some even just gave 15V as the experimenter couldn’t see them
How does location impact obedience?
Conducted in Yale’s psych lab.
When moved to rundown office block, obedience rates dropped to 48% (compared to the 65% original)
