Obediance Flashcards
What is the autonomous state?
Where we are free to take responsibility for our actions and are free thinking.
What is Milgram’s agency theory of obedience?
People born to obey are born to obey and obedience is need for stable society
Autonomous state- free will take responsibility for actions
Agentic state: controlled by authority figure, no responsibility for actions.
Agentic shift when we move between autonomous and agentic state
Moral strain: feeling of discomfort when we need to obey authority but feel it is wrong to do so
What are 2 supporting evidence of the agency theory?
Milgrams 1965 study showed 65% of participants shocked a man at 450 volts when told to by an authority figure, showing in agentic state we will obey authority.
Hofling found 21/22 nurses obeyed authority figure over phone to administer lethal overdose of drugs to patient.
What are 2 critising evidence agaisnt agency theory?
Seddikes and Jackson’s zoo study found 58% of people obeyed zoo keeper in uniform than 38% in non uniform suggesting the strength of the authority figure matters in obeying
Individual differences- doesn’t take into account factors like authoritarian personality and assume everyone acts in same way
What were Milgrams motivations for his study of obedience?
Wanted to test the theory that Germans were more likely to follow authority by using average American males.
What was Milgrams study sample for the study of Obedience?
40 Males from New Haven USA aged 20-50.
How was Milgram’s study standardised?
Used standardised probs like “please continue” so high in reliability for studying obedience
Standardised prompts with stern manner to say if ppt wanted to leave.
At which voltage level did Mr Wallace ‘fall silent’?
At 300 volts he stopped pounding on wall and shouting
At 315 Volts he fell silent
What was the procedure of Milgram’s study?
40 men responded to newspaper ad. Paid $4.50. at Yale uni. Did a fixed draw to decide teacher and learner with ppt always being teacher
Mr Wallace gave pre-determined responses to word pairs
How were the participants protected from harm by Milgram?
At the end of the study he debreifed the ppt about what the test was really about and showed them Mr Wallace alive and well. Interview to check up on ppts months after to see if they were okay too.
What signs of moral strain did some of the ppts show in Milgrams study of obedience?
Sweating, trembling, stuttering, digging fingers into flesh,
What were the results of Milgrams study of obedience?
100% up to 300V, 65% carried on to the maximum of 450V whilst 35% didn’t and were defiant.
What was the aim of Milgrams Telephonic Instrutions experiment 7?
To see if how close the experimenter is to the ppt affects their obedience to authority.
What was the procedure of the telephonic Instructions study?
He gave the orders over the phone after giving the instructions face to face. at start the experimenter left the room and then he gave instructions and prods over phone.
What were the results of the Telephonic Instructions study?
Obedience levels dropped to 22.5% and 9/40 were wiling to give the 450V compared to 65% in original study. Ppt also lied about going up in voltage but stayed at the same level.
What was the aim of Milgrams run down office block experiment 10?
See if the change to a run down office block rather than Yale uni would affect obedience levels.
What was the procedure of the Milgram run down office block experiment?
He used sparsely furnished office in Bridgeport, 40 males selected by mail and were paid less than the original study. Everything else was same as original study.
What were the results of the Milgram run down office experiment?
Obedience levels dropped 47.5% compared to 65% in original study. Ppts showed doubt and called study “heartless”
