Lesson 6- situational variables in obedience

Question 1

Milgram (1974)

Answer 1

conducted several variations of his original study, wanted to determine which situational variables lead to high levels of obedience and which reduce obedience

Question 2

proximity variation

Answer 2

both teacher and learner were seated in the same room, obedience levels to 40% as the teacher was now able to experience Mr Wallace anguish directly

Question 3

location variation

Answer 3

experiment was carried out in a rundown office in downtown Bridgeport Connecticut by an experimenter wearing casual clothes, all other variations were carried out at the the impressive Yale Uni, obedience 48%, participants reported location of Yale gave them confidence in the integrity of experimenter, the lower status of rundown office changed the participants perception of the legitimacy of the authority of the experimenter
experimenter had higher authority at Yale than in a rundown office which lead to higher obedience rates

Question 4

uniform variation

Answer 4

visible symbols of authority, sometimes shows someone has power and status and on other occasions shows someone does not have power and status
Bickman (1974) asked confederates to order passers by to pick some litter off the street or move away from a bus stop, confederate was dressed as either a guard, milkman, or just in smart clothes
90% of people obeyed the guard but only 50% obeyed the civilian, a person in a guard uniform is more likely to be obeyed