obedience Flashcards
what is obedience?
when an individual follows a direct order, the person giving the order usually is authoritative and has the power to punish when obedience is not present
who conducted the shock experiment?
milgram (1963)
what was milgram’s (1963) baseline study?
40 american men, deceived that the experiment was on memory, participant (T) was introduced to confederate (L), an experimenter was also involved who gave prods to participants. the study aimed to assess obedience when the experimenter (authoritive) gave orders to the participants (T) increasing gave shocks to the confederate (L) (15 to 450V). shocks where fake but the participant didn’t know this.
what were the findings of milgram’s (1963) baseline study?
every participant delivered all the shocks up to 300V, 12.5% stopped at 300V and 65% continued to 450V, milgram also collected observations (qualitative data): many participants showed signs if tension (sweating, trembling, stutter, etc), 3 participants experienced uncontrollable seizures.
what’s a strength of milgram’s (1963) baseline study?
research support (french documentary) - documentary about reality tv and focused on a game show, participants in the ‘game’ believed they were contestants for pilot episode of game show, they were paid to give (fake) electric shocks (instructed by presenter) to other contestants (confederates). 80% delivered maximum of 460V to a believed unconscious man, their nervous behaviour nearly matched the behaviour of milgram’s participants. shows the findings of milgram’s were not due to extraneous variables.
what’s a limitation of milgram’s (1963) baseline study?
low internal validity (may not have tested what he intended to) - milgram reported 75% of participants believed the shocks were real. orne & holland (1968) argued that the participants acted as they did because they were ‘play-acting’ as they didn’t believe the setup. perry (2013) listened to milgram’s tapes and reported only about 50% of them believed the shocks were real and amount 2/3 were disobedient, showing participants may have been responding to demand characteristics.
what were the 3 situational variables milgram studied?
proximity, location, uniform
how did milgram experiment proximity in his second study?
teacher and learner in same room - obedience dropped from 65% to 40%
teacher forced learner’s hand onto shock plate - obedience dropped further to 30%
experimenter gave instructions over phone - obedience dropped further to 20.5%
- decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions.
how did milgram experiment location in his second study?
experiment held in run down office block rather than yale university - obedience dropped from 65% to 47.5%
- prestigious university gave study legitimacy and authority and obedience occurred as it was assumed experimenter shared legitimacy and authority.
how did milgram experiment uniform in his second study?
in original experimenter were lab coat (sign of authority), in variation experimenter had to leave room and was covered by ordinary member of public in everyday clothes (no authority) - obedience dropped from 65% to 20%
- uniforms encourage obedience as they are widely recognised symbols of authority and seen as legitimate (granted by society).
what’s a strength of situational variables studied by milgram?
research support - bickman (1974) had 3 confederates (one dressed in suit, one in milkman uniform and one is security guard uniform) stand on the street and ask pedestrians to carry our tasks, such as picking up trash or paying for parking meter. pedestrians were 2x as likely to obey the security guard than the man in the suit, showing situational variables (uniform) do effect obedience.
what’s a limitation of situational variables studied by milgram?
low internal validity - participants may have suspected the study was fake. orne & holland (1968) states this in milgram’s baseline study but have pointed out it is even more likely in his second study as the variables are extra manipulated. therefore there is an argument whether the findings are due to the operation of obedience or due to participants responding to demand characteristics.
what is an agentic state?
a mental state where we feel no sense of personal responsibility for our actions because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.
what is an autonomous state?
a mental state where we feel free to act according to our own principles and feel a sense of responsibility for our own actions.
what is an agentic shift and when does it occur?
an agentic shift is the shift from autonomy to agency.
milgram (1974) suggests it occurs when a person perceives someone else as an authority figure, the authority figure has greater power because they are in a higher position in a social hierarchy.
what are binding factors?
