Obedience

Question 1

Obedience

Answer 1

Will people obey an authority and deliver painful electric shock to another person?
We put blind obedience over consciousness

Question 2

Milgram Obedience Study

Answer 2

Shock study…..

Summary:
o	Baseline study 65%
o	Office in Bridgeport, CT: 47%
o	Ordinary pers. incharge: 18%
o	Authority on phone: 23%
o	Victim in same room: 40%
o	P must touch victim: 30%
o	2 confederates dissent: 10%

Question 3

Effects of legitimacy of authority

Answer 3

When in less impressive research environment it is less % of participants who obey. Yale vs. research associates. When you change the appearance of the guy and not the location, however, 4/20 p’s go to maximum level because he seems less legitimate
• Proximity of the authority? When orders were given over the phone and the authority wasn’t in the room, only 9 out of 40 p’s gave extreme levels of shock.

Question 4

Effects of proximity to victim

Answer 4

As the victim gets closer, it is harder to obey. Highest to lowest: in the next room, in the same room, place hand on shock plate. Easy to obey commands when we can’t see the person.

Question 5

Effects of presence to dissenter

Answer 5

Participant alone 60%, Dissenters present less than 10%. Most people will follow and stop the shocks.

Question 6

A terror management theory’s perspective on the appeal of charismatic leaders

Answer 6

• According to Terror Management Theory, people are motivated to view their life as meaningful and significant in order to assuage their anxiety about morality.
• Charismatic leaders invite us to view our lives as part of something bigger than ourselves. They tell us that we are part of a special and enduring cause.
• Thus, to assuage our mortality anxiety, we project power onto leaders
o Testing the TMT account of the appeal of charismatic leaders

Question 7

Bush Study

Answer 7

• If loyalty to leaders stems in part from death concerns, then reminders of death should increase people’s support for their leader
• Example – Bush and 9/11
 Bush Study
• IV: P’s reminded of their mortality or not
• DV: Agreement with a pro-bush paragraph
• Mortality Salience very high and control condition significant