obedience

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

Doing as instructed or directed by an authority figure

Question 2

What is Milgram’s baseline procedure?

Answer 2

40 American males aged 20 and 50, paid $4.50 for turning up
How far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person
Volunteers recruited for lab experiment investigating “learning”
Drew straws to determine roles of learner or teacher, although this was fixed
Confederates always learner, experimenter in grey lab coat played by actor
Yale University
Learner “Mr Wallace” - chair with electrodes
Learned list of word pairs, tested by recalling pair from a list of 4 choices
Teacher administrates electric shock on every wrong answer
30 switches marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 volts (danger severe shock)
Prods: please continue (1), the experiment requires you to continue (2), it is absolutely essential that you continue (3), you have no other choice but to continue (4)

Question 3

Milgram findings

Answer 3

65% continued to highest level 450 volts
All PPs continued to 300 volts
Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure,
Obedience is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up

Question 4

Milgram variations

Answer 4

Uniform - role of experimenter taken over by ‘ordinary public member’ (confederate) in everyday clothes - obedience dropped to 20% - uniform gives experimenter legitimacy
Location - moved from Yale to run down offices - obedience dropped to 47.5% - status/reputation of location impacts obedience
Proximity - Teacher forced learners hand onto shock plate when PPs refused to participate after 150 volts - obedience fell to 30% - when PP is protected from seeing consequences, obedience decreases

Question 5

Milgram research support

Answer 5

Bickman (1974) investigated power of uniform in a field experiment (natural environment) in New York
Three male actors (milkman, security guard, ordinary clothes)
Asked members of public to do: pick up a bag, give someone money for parking metre, stand at bus stop that says ‘no standing’
Guar was obeyed 76% of occasions, milkman 47%, pedestrian 30%
People more likely to obey when instructed by someone in uniform
Supports Milgram’s findings

Question 6

Milgram evaluation points

Answer 6

Deception - PPs unaware they were shocking a confederate
Unethical - protection of PPs (psychological harm, distress)