Obedience Flashcards
Define Obedience
A type of social influence whereby someone acts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority where they otherwise wouldn’t follow the order.
Milgram’s Study of Obedience
Aim - to investigate if ordinary people will obey to authority even if it requires hurting an innocent person
Method - 40 male ppts volunteers were told they were taking part in a study of how punishment affects learning. There were 2 confederates an experimenter and a learner. The real ppt was always the teacher. The teacher was told they had to administer an electric shock ranging from 15V to 450V to the learner each time they answered incorrectly.
Results - 65% went to lethal 450V
Conclusion - ordinary people are obedient to authority even when asked to act immorally
Milgram Study of Obedience EVALUATION
Strength
- reliable - 19 variations
- good sample size
- internal validity
- debrief
Weaknesses
- ethics - deception, right to withdraw (standardised prods), protection from harm, informed consent
- androcentric
- lacks EV
- temporal validity
Alternative research to evaluate Milgram
Holfing’s Nurse Study (field)
- 22 nurses in a hospital had to answer a phone to Dr Smith ( a fake doctor) who asked the nurse to prescribe 20mg of made up trip Astroten when max dosage is 10mg
21/22 obeyed, breaking 3 hospital rules
Bickman’s Uniform Study (field)
- 3 male scot’s dressed as ordinary, milkman or security guard and asked public to follow 1 of 3 orders - pick up litter, give money for parking or stand on the wrong side of a bus stop.
76% obeyed to guard
47% to milkman
30% to ordinary person
Sheridan & King Puppy Study
- repeat of Milgram’s experiment but with a puppy who would actually get shocked rather than an actor with fake shocks. If the puppy failed to stand in the correct place based on a light cue the ppts had to shock the puppy increasing by 15V each incorrect answer
20/26 shocked up to max voltage and the 6 that refused were men. 20 that went to max were all women.
Define the 3 parts of Milgram’s agency theory
Autonomous state - responsible for own actions and behaving according to own principles
Agentic state - acting on behalf of authority figure and feeling no personal responsibility
Agentic shift - the movement between the agentic and autonomous state
What are binding factors?
Aspects of the situation that allow a person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour
Evaluation of the Agency theory
Strength
- research to support. Blass and Schmitt showed a film of Milgrams study to students and asked them who was responsible for harming the learner and the students blamed the experimenter (proves agentic state)
Weakness
- criticised for being too rigid. Lifton studied German doctors working at Auschwitz. He found they had gradually shifted from medical professionals to doctors that carried out lethal and vile experiments on helpless patients. This means it is more gradual and we are not always in one state or the other. It may be more to do with becoming complicit in an evil act and justifying internal reasons.
What is meant by a legitimate authority figure?
Legitimate authority is justified. We accept the individual rightly has authority, we give up our independence and we need them to maintain social order.
Evaluation of Legitimacy of Authority
Strength - evidence to support - study on plane accidents and found that there was heavy dependence on the captain and one officer claimed to notice the captain taking a risky approach but said nothing as they assumed the captain knew what they were doing. Shown further in real life such as Mai Lai massacre.
Weakness - cultural differences in obedience - Milgrams study replicated in Australia only 16% went to 450V whereas in Germany 85% did. Not all cultures see authority as equally legitimate. Australia far less concerned of social hierarchy than Germany. Indicates there must be dispositional factors so not completely valid.
Situational factors that affect obedience
Location - University - 65% obedience run down office block - 47.5% obedience
Uniform - everyday clothes - 20%
Proximity - touch, absent, same room.
Evaluation - Is it the situational or disposition that affects obedience? SITUATIONAL EVALUATION
Strength - Situational - Obedience fell to 20% when researcher was wearing normal clothes - further supported by Bickman in a more realistic setting.
Strength - different situational factor - Repeated in run down office block caused obedience to drop to 47.5%. However it can’t be entirely situational as surely obedience would have been 100% at Yale University.
Strength - another different situational factor - when teacher and learner were in the same room obedience dropped to 40%. However in 1942 the reserve police battallion 101 were told to kill the Jews in Poland and despite close proximity only a small majority took up the offer to be reassigned. Must be dispositional factors.
What is an authoritarian personality and its characteristics?
Adorno suggested people who have had a strict, harsh upbringing are more likely to have an authoritarian personality. He said they have a dislike of people from lower classes, fixed and conventional ideas of right and wrong and are always willing to be bossed around by those of higher status.
Adorno F-Scale Personality Questionnaire - Authoritarian Personality
Aim - to see whether a certain type of personality is more prone to obedience
Method - 2000 middle class white Americans were interviewed and tested using the F-scale test. Their responses were correlated.
Results - Authoritarians scored high on the F-scale . There was a strong positive correlation between authoritarism and prejudice towards other groups of people.
Evaluation - Is it the situational or dispositional factors that affect obedience? DISPOSITIONAL EVALUATION
Strength - research support - Adorno F-scale - high score = authoritarian personality. However proof for situational - Milgram
Limitation - problems with questionnaire - self report causes agreement bias and social desirability bias. Furthermore correlations can’t prove cause and effect as there might not actually be a relationship
Limitation - research support that AP may not be due to strict parenting. Elms and Milgram found obedient ppts had good relationships with parents so Adorno’s theory may be incorrect. However, positive implications for personal responsibility - Nuremberg trials - dispositional makes sure fair treatments and justice is given.
