Obedience Flashcards
the differences between conformity and obedience
obedience can be to one person
obedience cannot be imagined pressure
obedience results in compliance
what was found about Adolf Eichmann?
seemed like normal family man with no inhumane behaviour. he was responsible for the death camps and stated he was just following orders.
what was Milgram’s motive for his research into obedience?
to answer if the Germans were different from others to act as they did in the war
what was the aim of his experiment?
to see if people will obey even when harming another
what was the procedure of milgram?
40 male participants volunteered
study of memory
20-50
range of status
offered 4.50 to take part
random allocation to teacher/learner
experimenter in lab coat
teacher gave shocks for wrong answers
from 15V to 450V
more discomfort displayed progressively
what did Milgram’s experiment find?
all went to 300V
12.5 did not continue after 300V
65% reached 450V
14 psychology students estimated 3% to 450V
participants debriefed, informed normal ans
questionnaire showed 84% were happy to participate
support for Mildram’s experiment
focused on relationship between participant and authority figure
lab reflected real life eg a work setting
Hofling et al showed 21/22 nursed obeyed unjustified demands by a doctor
Le Jeau de la Mort replicated exp as a TV show
told they were participants in a game show to give shocks to others in front of an audience. 80% went to max of 460V to an apparently unconscious man
Limitations of Milgram’s experiment
Orne and Holland, participants behaved as they did because they didnt think it was real. Shocks were not electric
Ethical issues
deception
not random allocation but fixed
mental distress to participants
no right to withdraw
Rank and Jacobson
Replication of Hofling with few differences
drug now real called valium
gave name of doc known by nurses
nurses could speak to another nurse
only 2/18 obeyed
what is the agentic state
person obeying is not responsible
acting in place of another
high anxiety is common known as moral strain
may know it is wrong but feel they must obey
what is the autonomous state
person is independent or free
behave to their principles and morals
responsible for their actions
can shift from one to another ‘the agentic shift’
Milgram found it to be when they see another as an authority figure due to their position in the social hierarchy
support for Agency theory
Blass and Schmitt
film shown of Milgram to students
asked to say who was to blame
saw experimenter as responsible due to authority
Can explain real life crimes
Nazis
My Lai massacre
Kilham and Mann
Milgram replication in Australia
16% to 450V instead of US 65%
Mantell
Milgram replication in Germany
85% went all the way to 450V
cross cultural research increases validity of Milgram’s findings
Limitations of Agency theory
has research but does not explain the findings
why do some not obey?
Doesn’t support Hofling et al
can only apply to certain situations
does this excuse the Nazis?
Mandel
German reserve police Battalion 101
Men obeyed to shoot innocents in Poland
Direct orders were not given to do this
what were Milgrams variations
proximity
location
uniform
how does proximity affect obedience
the same room:45%
forcing the learners hand on a shock plate:30%
orders given by phone:20.5%
how does location affect obedience
Yale:65%
Run down warehouse:47.5%
