Obedience

Question 1

What is Milgram’s Agency Theory?

Answer 1

Obedience is necessary for the stability of human society and that we are socialised into obeying from childhood. There are two states: Agentic state and Autonomous state.

Question 2

What is the Agentic state?

Answer 2

We perceive ourselves to be agent of someone else’s will, the authority figure takes responsibility so we don’t feel guilty. Going into the Agentic state removes moral strain.

Question 3

What is the autonomous state?

Answer 3

We perceive ourselves to be responsible for out own behaviour so we feel guilt for what we do.

Question 4

What is moral strain?

Answer 4

When an authority figure issues an order that goes against our conscience, we experience moral strain. This is because we have two contradictory urges: to obey the authority figure and to obey our conscience.

Question 5

What is Milgram’s evolutionary explanation for the Agentic Shift?

Answer 5

He argues that obedience is a survival trait tat enabled tribes of early humans to flourish. Even today, society could not function without obedience.

Question 6

What is some research into Agency Theory?

Answer 6

Variation #5 featured a learner with a heart condition. Obedience dropped slightly, but not much. This suggests that empathy doesn’t make people disobedient, it just increases their moral strain, making the Agentic State more tempting.
Variation #10 used a run-down office rather than Yale University and obedience dropped to 47.%. This is expected if the Agentic Shift is triggered by symbols of authority.
Milgram & Elms studied the original participants and identified an authoritarian personality type that admired rules and was inclined to obey.
Burger found a personality factor where there is a need to be in control of your own behaviour.

Question 7

How can Agency Theory be applied to the real world?

Answer 7

Cross-cultural variations:
Meeus & Raajimakers (1986) found similar results in liberal Holland to what Milgram found similar results in liberal Holland to what Milgram found in 1960’s America. However, they used insults instead of electric shocks.
Shanab & Yahya (1978) found similar results to Milgram in a non-Western society - Jordan, in the Middle East with college children.
Thomas Blass (2012) reviewed all these studies and found that, on average, American obedience came out 5% lower than non-American studies.

Question 8

How is Agency Theory credible?

Answer 8

Milgram carried out a lot of research in support of Agency Theory.
His variations support the idea that situational factors make participants more or less obedient.
Dispositional factors (empathy and gender) don’t seem to make much difference at all.
Around the world, obedience is high, even when authority figures give orders that are distressing and immoral.
Agency Theory explains events like the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocides and the ethnic cleansings in the Balkans and in Syria today.

Question 9

What are the objections to Agency Theory?

Answer 9

Moral strain is a problem for this theory. In Milgram’s study, moral strain was shown by the participants who obeyed, not the ones who disobeyed. Milgram’s theory suggests that the Agentic State is an escape from moral strain, but this is not what is observed in his studies.
Milgram’s research suffers from a lack of mundane realism.
In real life, teachers are not asked to electrocute students, or were wartime Germans asked to do this by the Nazis.
The supporting research is of an artificial and unusual nature.

Question 10

What are the differences of Agency Theory?

Answer 10

The alternative theory is Social Impact Theory, which suggests that everyone applies social force to everyone else to get what they want.
It is similar to Milgram’s Agentic State , because people find it hard to resist pressures to obey.
Both theories regard people as passive, doing whatever social pressure makes them do. However, Social Impact Theory doesn’t show the importance of moral strain.

Question 11

What are some applications to Agency Theory?

Answer 11

Celebrities and sporting heroes often visit schools to encourage tolerance and equality, such as telling students to not get involved in crime or do drugs.
This shows that the Agentic Shift can help reduce prejudice and discrimination because authority figures could tell people to be tolerant and understanding of others.

Question 12

What is Latane’s Social Impact Theory?

Answer 12

An attempt to produce an underlying law that explains a whole set of studies from the 60s and 70s. It focuses on how people conform to the group they are in, follow leaders and imitate each other.

Question 13

What are the 3 Laws of Behaviour?

Answer 13

1) Social Force
2) Psychological Law
3) Divisions of Impact

Question 14

What is Social Force?

Answer 14

A pressure that is put on people to change their behaviour - if it succeeds, that is Social Impact.
Social force is made up of: Strength, Immediacy and Numbers.
Strength - how much power you believe the person influencing you has.
Immediacy - how recent the influence is and how close to you.
Numbers - the amount of people putting pressure on you.

Question 15

What is the mathematical equation for social impact?

Answer 15

i = f(SIN)

Question 16

What is Psychological Law?

Answer 16

The idea that the first source of influence has the most dramatic impact on people, but the second, third, fourth, etc sources generate less and less social force.

Question 17

What is Divisions of Impact?

Answer 17

Social Force gets spread out between all the people it is directed at.
Diffusion of responsibility - the more of you there are, the less personal responsibility each of you will feel.

Question 18

What is the mathematical equation for division of responsibility?

Answer 18

i = f(1/SIN)

Question 19

What is some research into Social Impact Theory?

Answer 19

Latane found that when audiences were small, people were more willing to sign cards for Billy Graham’s appeal. This shows divisions of impact.
Sedikides & Jackson (1990) carried out a field experiment in a bird house at the zoo. The confederate gave visitors the instruction to not lean on the railings. If the confederate was in a uniform, obedience was high, and if he was wearing casual clothes, the obedience was lower. This shows social force, mostly strength. As time passed, visitors began to ignore the instructions, showing social force immediacy. Divisions of impact was also seen as larger groups disobeyed more than smaller groups or people who were alone.

Question 20

How can Social Impact Theory be applied to the real world?

Answer 20

French & Raven (1959) identified types of authority:
1)Legitimate power - high status
2)Reward power - money or perform favours
3)Coercive power - punish you
4)Expert power - knowledgeable
5)Referent power - belong to groups you respect
Latane & Darley (1968) carried out an experiment for Diffusion of responsibility:
Participants sat in booths and discussed their health, when one confederate had a heart attack.
One other participant = helped 85%
Two other participants = helped 62%
Four x participants = helped 31%

Question 21

How is Social Impact Theory credible?

Answer 21

Backed up by many supporting studies. For example, Latane and Darley looked at the division of responsibility, Tajfel looked at intergroup discrimination, and Milgram looked into obedience. This shows that all these studies look at different aspects of Social Impact.

Question 22

What are some objections to Social Impact Theory?

Answer 22

The theory pays close attention to the characteristics of the person giving the orders but not so much to the person receiving them, it ignores moral strain. Milgram explains why his participants fainted and cried, but Social Impact Theory doesn’t explain the feeling of the people obeying, only how likely they are to obey.

Question 23

What are some differences for Social Impact Theory?

Answer 23

Social Impact Theory can be compared to Milgram’s Agency Theory. Social Impact Theory includes the different types of authority, suggested by French and Raven, which can cause a person to obey orders, such as referent power. This shows that Social Impact Theory is more complex than Agency Theory. However, Milgram explains the moral strain in his study, whereas, Latane doesn’t mention it.

Question 24

What are some applications to Social Impact Theory?

Answer 24

The mathematical equation of Social Impact Theory can be very useful. Latane believes that if you know the number of people involved, the immediacy of the order, and the strength of the authority figure, you can use the equation i=f(SIN) to calculate how likely someone is to obey those orders. This means you can predict if laws will be followed, students will obey, etc.

Question 25

What was the procedure of Milgram’s experiment?

Answer 25

1) He offered $4 for any white American male to participate.
2) The participants met with the Experimenter, who wore a smart lab coat, in Yale Uni and Mr Wallace who was a confederate volunteer.
3) The participants were shown the shock generator and were given a 45v shock to show that it was real.
4) The participant was asked to increase the voltage by 15v each time a question was answered wrong.
5) The Teacher couldn’t see the Learner but he could hear him.
6) The Learner began to complain about heart pains and at 300v he began banging on the wall. After this he went silent.
7) The Experimenter had 4 verbal pods such as “please continue” or “the experiment requires that you continue”
8) The experiment ended when the Teacher got up and left or when they reached 450v.

Question 26

What was the aim of Milgram’s study?

Answer 26

To investigate how obedient participants would be when following orders that would go against their morals and harm another person.

Question 27

What was the IV and DV for Milgram’s study?

Answer 27

There is no IV as this is a structured observation. The DV is the highest shock level each participant would go to.

Question 28

What was the sample of Milgram’s study?

Answer 28

40 participants. All white American men aged 20-50. Volunteer sampling.

Question 29

What were the results of Milgram’s study?

Answer 29

Participants were obedient up until 300v when the Learner started banging on the wall. Between 300v and 375v, 14 participants dropped out. 65% went up to 450v. Milgram also collected qualitative data, he observed participants’ sweating, trembling, stuttering, groaning and nervous laughter.

Question 30

What were the conclusions for Milgram’s study?

Answer 30

Shows the power of authority over our behaviour. Even when the participants were clearly upset by the orders, they still saw no alternative except to obey.

Question 31

What was variation #7?

Answer 31

The Experimenter gave the participants the instructions then left the room, leaving the Teacher alone with the shock generator. The Experimenter then only communicated by telephone.
Obedience dropped to 22.5%, and some participants gave lower shocks than they were told to do as they thought they were unobserved.
In conclusion, the physical appearance of an authority figure is important for obedience.

Question 32

What was variation #10?

Answer 32

The study took place in a run-down office instead of Yale University.
Obedience dropped to 45.5%.
Many showed doubts and asked questions.
One made notes and the other claimed the study was “heartless”.
In conclusion, the setting is not that significant for obedience.

Question 33

What was variation #13/13a?

Answer 33

The Experimenter explains the instructions but then is called away, and another confederate, who is also acting as a participant, wearing casual clothes gives some new instructions to increase the voltage by 15v each time.
20 participants did thus variation and only 20% obeyed by going to 450v.
In variation #13a, the 16 participants who disobeyed from #13 were used. The confederate suggested to swap roles.
All 16 participants protested as they watched the confederate give shocks. 5 of them tried to unplug the generator or stop the confederate physically. 11 participants let the confederate go to 450v.
In conclusion, the status of the authority figure is important but other features of the situation still create obedience. People are more willing to be bystanders than to stop the harm.

Question 34

How was Milgram’s study generalised?

Answer 34

Milgram’s original study is not quite generalisable. His original study had a sample of 40, but anomalies with individual differences might spoil the results. The participants were also all white American males, which cannot generalise to women. This shows that the study may not generalise to other adults in other cultures, as all the participants were only American.

Question 35

How was Milgram’s study reliable?

Answer 35

Milgram’s study is very reliable because it can be replicated. Between 1961-62, Milgram carried out many variations to his original study. Burger 2009 also replicated Milgram’s variation #5, #17, and #8, as well as following Milgram’s script wherever possible. This shows that Milgram’s study indicated high reliability as it was able to be replicated again by another Psychologist.

Question 36

How was Milgram’s study applicable?

Answer 36

Milgram’s study is applicable. The study can be used in schools, workplaces and prisons. Authority figures should wear a uniform to show their status. This shows that the study demonstrates how obedience works and can be used to increase the levels of obedience in places that have rules. The Social Impact Theory also suggests strategies for increasing the pressure on these people to be obedient.

Question 37

How was Milgram’s study valid?

Answer 37

Milgram’s study lacks mundane realism. The situation he put the participants in was not like obeying a real authority figure, giving electric shocks to a leaner is artificial. This shows that the study doesn’t really tell us about why people obeyed the Nazis, only how they behave in psychology experiments.

Question 38

How was Milgram’s study ethical?

Answer 38

Milgram’s study is unethical. The participants weren’t told that this wasn’t a memory test, but instead an experiment on the participants. They also were told to continue with the experiment by being told scripted verbal pods by the experimenter. This shows that the study didn’t have informed consent as the participants weren’t told the truth of what they would be undergoing, it also didn’t allow the participants the chance to withdraw from the experiment.

Question 39

How does culture affect obedience?

Answer 39

Milgram’s obedience studies were all done on Americans. America is a Western culture which values individualism. Therefore, Americans don’t feel much guilt, hence Milgram used Americans. Obedience can be lower in other cultures even more individualistic than the USA.
School uniform is a good way of de-individuating student, which makes them more obedient. However, this can backfire if de-individuated students end up obeying the wrong authority figures. Isolation increases obedience, separating students from their friends can increase obedience. Prestigious settings improve obedience.

Question 40

How does personality affect obedience?

Answer 40

Milgram's Variation #5 was the "empathy" variation, where Mr Wallace mentioned having a heart condition. More PPs dropped out 150V, long before Mr Wallace went silent at 300V. However, PPs who continued after 150V seemed to feel they had “passed a point of no return” and continued all the way to 450V.
Burger (2009) also tested PPs for "empathy" and "autonomy" (need for control) beforehand. Burger concludes that people who have a psychological need to be in control of their own lives may be slightly more disobedient. Locus of control.
Theodor Adorno (1950), said that people with an Authoritarian Personality type obey more. These people admire obedience to authority figures.

Question 41

How does gender affect obedience?

Answer 41

Females are raised to be more compliant and follow instructions better than males. Alternatively, maybe females are less likely to follow aggressive instructions.
Milgram’s variation #8 showed no gender differences.
Burger (2009) also found no gender differences.
Kilham & Mann (1974) tested gender differences in obedience among Australian students. They replicated Milgram’s study but found that only 16% of women obeyed compared to 40% of men. In this study, the women were being ordered to shock another woman by a male authority figure, so they may have sided with the victim instead.

Question 42

How does proximity affect obedience?

Answer 42

In Milgram’s variation #7, he investigated obedience if the authority figure was away. When the Experimenter left the room and told his instructions by phone instead the obedience went down from 65% to 22.5%.

Question 43

How does location affect obedience?

Answer 43

In variation #10, Milgram compared obedience at Yale University to obedience in a run-down office. Obedience went down from 65% to 45.5%. This means that location is much less important that the presence of the authority figure.

Question 44

How does isolation affect obedience?

Answer 44

Charles Hofling 1966, tested real nurses who were supervising a hospital ward during a night shift. A confederate who pretended to be Dr Smith phoned the ward and ordered the nurse to give the patient a dose of drug that was 4 times the safe limit. It’s against the hospital rules to give a patient a drug without a doctor physically present. A real doctor was there to intervene just in case the nurse actually gave the drug. 21 out of 22 nurses obeyed the fake doctor. Later in a questionnaire, 31 out of 33 nurses said they wouldn’t break hospital rules. This shows that people are more obedient when alone.