Obedience

Question 1

Outline three situational factors which can be used to keep order in institutions.

Answer 1

‘in prisons disobedient prisoners are put in
solitary confinement (1) to prevent there being a
consensus to be defiant (1)’
eg ‘an army officer is high up in a hierarchy of
command (1) which gives her or him a
recognisable authority to maintain control
amongst the soldiers (1)
eg a head teacher is a recognised authority
figure (1) which gives her or him the power to
punish in order to prevent students from disobeying (1)
eg a teacher’s power to punish (1) keeps control
as students fear the consequences of
disobedience (1)

Question 2

Describe two criticisms of the theory of situational factors

Answer 2

‘situational
factors are often tested by deceiving people by
giving them fake orders (1) and this is unethical
(1)’, ‘situational factors may not apply to real life
(1) as a lot of the research that supports it lacks
ecological validity (1)’

Question 3

Describe how research into obedience can be applied in institutions.

Answer 3

‘putting prisoners (1) in identical uniforms (1) takes away their
identity (1) and so they are easier to control en masse as they
identify themselves as a group rather than as individuals’ (1)’

Question 4

Explain the effects of culture on obedience

Answer 4

‘people
from individualistic cultures are more defiant (1) because they
don’t feel an obligation to keep order for the sake of others (1)
unlike people from collectivist cultures (1)

Question 5

Explain the effects of consensus on obedience

Answer 5

An
individual will obey if everyone else agrees to (1) because we
have a tendency to conform (1) since we don’t want to stand
out from the crowd (1)’,

Question 6

Describe how the theory of situational factors explains obedience

Answer 6

This theory says that it is the situation that determines whether we
obey or not rather than individual personality (1). There are a variety
of situational factors that determine this including culture, consensus
and chances of punishment (1). In terms of culture, we can see that
obedience is a behaviour like any other and therefore subject to the
norms and values of society (1). Collectivist cultures tend to have
higher rates of obedience than individualistic because of people’s
sense of duty to each other they want to avoid upset and chaos (1).
Consensus can increase or decrease obedience
– depending on
what everybody else in the same situation is doing (1). Punishment
clearly affects obedience
– if someone breaks a rule and is punished
then they are less likely to be defiant again (1).’

Question 7

Describe and evaluate one study into obedience

Answer 7

Describe:

• Bickman did a field experiment into whether uniform affects the level of obedience. He conducted his research in Brooklyn, New York.
• Using opportunity sampling, he had confederates dressed up as different people (a guard, a milkman and a civilian) ask members of the public to complete different tasks.
• These were to pick up litter, to stand somewhere specific and to lend money to someone who was over his time at a parking meter.
• Bickman found that 89% of people asked by the man in the guard’s uniform obeyed him and did what he said. 57% of people asked by the Milkman obeyed his command and only 33% of the people asked by the civilian obeyed.
• Bickman concluded that uniform has an effect on the level of obedience, as most people obeyed the guard, and more people obeyed the person in the milkman’s uniform than in everyday civilian clothes.

Evaluate:

• There was no informed consent gained from the participants making the study unethical.
• It was a field experiment, which although high in ecological validity, lacks control over extraneous variables such as light, heat and time of day.
• The pedestrians were selected via opportunity sampling, which means Bickman had no prior knowledge about these people, they could have been in a hurry and just obeyed to keep quiet and get on with their day.
• All the people dressed in the uniforms were male, could gender have been the reason they obeyed rather than the uniform?
• The study was only carried out in Brooklyn which means you cannot generalise the findings outside of this area.

Question 8

Explain what is meant by the concept of an authoritarian personality

Answer 8

A set of traits. obedient
towards those in power but intolerant of
others seen as inferior