Obedience

Question 1

Obedience

Answer 1

behaving as instructed by an authority figure (who has status and or power)

Question 2

Milgram (1963) setup

Answer 2

40 male participants via volunteer sampling to Yale psych department met by a confederate experimenter and Mr Wallace pretending weak heart - told it was about effects of punishment on learning
Randomly assigned learner and teacher but rigged so participant always teacher

Question 3

Milgram (1963) Method

Answer 3

Teacher given shock machine w voltage switches from 15 up to 450 with texts like slight, moderate, danger and XXX shock.
Asked learner word pairs and each mistake was one more shock, more severe shocks means Wallace made noises or begged to stop, then went silent after 300V
When teacher asked to stop experimenter said same 4 lines meaning u must continue, test was whether teacher would disobey

Question 4

Milgram (1963) Findings

Answer 4

100% shocked to 300V where he became silent
65% shocked all the way to 450V so obeyed
Lots of stress felt - sweating, hysterics
But still willing to shock weak heart man

Question 5

Shocking experiment eval

Answer 5

• unethical - no informed consent, removed right to withdraw, psychological harm, debriefing present but sufficient?, but necessary to avoid demand characteristics
• unrepresentative as white american men so cultural and gender bias
  + repeated with better samples and women and rates did not change significantly
  + After a CBA study was worthwhile, and 84% of people were happy to take part and learn - good to avoid future issues

Question 6

Proximity variation 1974

Answer 6

dropped to 40% when same room
dropped to 30% when teacher had to physically force hand onto electric shock
dropped to 21% when experimenter left room and gave orders via telephone

Question 7

Location variation 1974

Answer 7

Dropped to 48% in a rundown office in downtown Connecticut by casual clothed experimenter
Loss of integrity and legitimacy of authority
Can be criticised for changing 2 variables but both affected legitimacy

Question 8

Bickman (1974)

Answer 8

Uniform - symbol of authority, power, status
Confederates asked passerby to pick up litter and bin it
90% obedience when confederate dressed as a guard but 50% when as a civilian

Question 9

Agentic state theory

Answer 9

People following orders go from autonomous state to agentic state i.e agentic shift - where they unthinkingly carry out orders as an instrument of an authority figure.
Perhaps developed through human evolution and necessary for hierarchies and society to function - figures like parents teachers, police, doctors so obedience essential

Question 10

Factors making agentic shift more likely

Answer 10

Diffusion of responsibility as authority figure is technically responsible for actions
Gradual commitment were orders start off mild and gradually get more severe
Buffers where people are psychologically protected e.g being far away from the effects
Close proximity between authority figure and person
Positive self image - after entering agentic shift breaking commitment seems arrogant or rude

Question 11

Agentic state eval

Answer 11

+ Participants in Milgrams experiment were less likely to shock when Mr wallace was in the same room - no buffers preventing agentic shift
- Mandel (1998) reported 1942 Major Wilhelm Trapp given orders to take Jewish people to village edge and shoot them - members of battalion given chance to decline but few declined despite close proximity - could be due to other reasons e.g fear of execution

Question 12

Legitimate authority

Answer 12

We recognise our own and others position in social hierarchy - so those who are higher up have legitimate authority and can issue demands so we obey them - but we will not obey lower or equal social hierarchy

Question 13

Factors increasing chance of legitimate authority

Answer 13

Increased by visible symbols of authority e.g uniform (Bickman)
Also dependent on setting/ system e.g school or prison esp is commands may be harmful or destructive or unorthodox

Question 14

Legitimate authority eval

Answer 14

+ Hofling (1966) found nurses would obey a dangerous order from a doctor while in hospital - Dr Smith told them to give 20mg of astroten (max dose is 10 as indicated) - instructions over phone, unknown doctor, medicine not on stock list

Question 15

Authoritarian personality

Answer 15

Those who are obedient to authority and have likewise traits - servile to highers and hostile to lowers (scapegoating), conformist, dogmatic, power focused, inflexible, conventional rules

Question 16

Adorno (1950)

Answer 16

Proposed authoritarian personality as a dispositional explanation - caused by strict/ rigid parenting usually with (physical) punishment - this hostility displaced onto weakers but repressed and submissive against parents which becomes generalised

Question 17

How are authoritarian personalities measured

Answer 17

F (Fascism) scale - rating statements with agree to disagree like ‘rules are there to be followed’ or ‘children must learn obedience and respect’

Question 18

Authoritarian personality eval

Answer 18

+ Miller (1975) High F scale scorers cooperated better with a setup to hold onto electric wiring and shock themselves while working on arithmetic problem
+ Altemeyer (1981) High F scale scorers likely to shock themselves with increasing voltage when mistakes made on a learning task
- Situational variables e.g disobedient role model may be more important - Milgram reached 0% with 2 disagreeing people and 100% when Mr Wallace made no noise (buffer)
- Authoritarian personality is not very common so cannot explain societal obedience completely e.g 65% in Milgram’s original
- Could be a third link - lack of education causing obedience found by Milgram (1974) and authoritarianism found by Middendorp and Meleon (1990)