obedience Flashcards
Milgram obedience study
recruited 40 men to take part in a memory study
a fed (mr Wallace) was always the learner
another fed was the Experimenter and wore a lab coat
the teacher (pp) could see the experimenter but not the learner
what happened in the study (milgram 1963)
the teacher had to give the learner an electric shock for every incorrect answer given - increasing from 15 - 450 (15s)
the shocks were fake but labelled on a machine to make it realistic
if the pp wished to stop the experimenter would give them a prod to continue
baseline findings of milgrams study 1963
12.5% stopped at 300v
65% went onto 450v
pps showed extreme tension and were uncomfortable
unexpected findings - students asked before said no more than 3% would go to 450v
conclusions from the baseline study 1963
we obey legitimate authority even if our behaviour results in harm to others
certain factors increase obedience.
evaluation of Milgrams baseline study 1963
+replications support findings
-findings are not due to blind obedience
+lacked internal validity, role playing
-counterpoint - sheridan and king (1972) did the experiments with real puppies and 100% of woman pps delivered a so called fatal shock to the dog
+high ecological validity - shows why people behave in certain ways to people of power
-ethical issues- deceived and no informed consent
situational variables
PLU
proximity
location
uniform
proximity
closeness of the teacher and learner or teacher and experimenter
when teacher and learner were in the same room, obedience dropped from 65-40%
in the touch proximity variation, obedience dropped from 65-30%
in the remote instruction variation, obedience dropped from 65%-20.5%
decreased proximity allows the pps to distance themselves from their actions making them fell less responsible and act more obedient
location
prestige of the setting - study done in a run down building, not Yale
obedience dropped from 65-47.5%
obedience was higher in Yale as the setting was legitimate and had authority
uniform
communicates authority - experimenter wearing a lab coat
in the uniform vasriation, expermenter leaves and a random person in ordinary clothes takes his place
obedince went from 65-20%
uniform is a strong symbol of legitimate authority given by society, someone without it has less of a right to expect obedience
evaluation of situational variables (plu)
+research support - bickman - 2x as likely to obey man in security guard costume
-low internal validity in studies
+cross cultural replication - repeated in other countries and results were similar
-counterpoint - repeated in culturally similar countries - Smith and Bond - means it may not be the same for i.e india
+provide a contextual understanding in how SV shape a persons behaviour
- overemphasis on SV - experiments do not take into account personal traits
what are the situational explanations
agentic state
legitimacy of authority
agentic state (AS)
acting on behalf of another person who is positioned to have more authority
makes the ‘agent’ feel no responsibility for their actions
autonomous state (AS)
person acting completely independently - behaving according to their own principles, taking responsibility for their actions
agentic shift (AS)
shift from autonomy to the agentic state. Milgram stated this is when a person is perceived to be an authority figure because of their position in the social hierarchy
binding factors (AS)
aspects of a situation that minimise the effect of their actions to reduce the moral strain they feel
they could be shifting responsibility to victims or denying damage done to victims
who is obeyed in a social hierarchy (LA)
they people further up it have more authority - parents, teachers, police
why do authorities have legitimate authority
because it is agreed by society that people in positions of authority should exercise power to allow society to function smoothly
why give up power to people with LA
we give up power so they can exercise their authority properly - learning to accept it - i.e parent telling sibling off
how can LA be wrongly used
leaders using it for destructive purposes such as hitler and stalin
Situational explanations evaluation
+agentic state has research support. pps finding out the experimenter is responsible
-agentic shift doesnt explain research findings - rank and jacobs
+legitimacy can explain cultural differences - in variations of migrams exp, 16% of AUS female pps obeyed but 85% of all GER pps
-legitimacy cannot explain all types of obedience and disobedience - people may disobey when they are aware of authority
what is a dispositional explanation
an explanation that highlights the importance of ones personality.
authoritarian personality
a personality where people are obedient and submissive to those above and harsh to those below them in a hierarchy
how to people with the authoritarian personality treat others
exaggerated respect to those above them and submissiveness
express contempt to people with an inferior social status
how is the authoritarian personality developed
forms in childhood through harsh parenting
forms discipline, loyalty, high standards and severe criticism. / conditional love
