Obedience

Question 1

What was the aim of Milgram’s original study?

Answer 1

-To test if an individual’s own moral code was more impactful on their actions than an order given by an authoritative figure

Question 2

What did Milgram’s original study find?

Answer 2

• No participant stopped below 300V,
• 5/40 (12.5%) participants stopped at 300V,
• 26/40 (65%) continued to 450V

Question 3

How can Milgram’s original experiment be criticised?

Answer 3

• Major ethical issues
• Orne and Holland (1968) suggested there may be demand characteristics involved- low internal validity)
• Obedience may be due to identification with the experimenter- social identity theory

Question 4

How is Milgram’s original research supported?

Answer 4

• Lab environment is applicable to many other environments in which authority may be required and potentially challenged (21/22 nurses giving “lethal” injection”)
• Le Jeu de la Mort (2010), 80% of participants gave maximum shock of 460V (supporting study)

Question 5

What conditions did Milgram discover to be impactful on obedience rates?

Answer 5

• Proximity
• Uniform
• Location

Question 6

How can the variations of Milgram’s study be criticised?

Answer 6

• Similarly to the original study, it is hard to tell if participants worked out the aim of the study (potential demand characteristics)
• Milgram’s findings on obedience offers an excuse for those who commit ‘evil’ acts in that they could claim they were just doing as they were told (this offended some people when considered in relation to the holocaust)

Question 7

How are the variations of Milgram’s study be supported?

Answer 7

• His research has been replicated and have shown the same results in other cultures (Miranda et al 1981 found 90% obedience rate in spain)
• Bickman (1974) had people dressed in a security guard’s uniform, a suit and tie or a milkman uniform, his finding backed up those of Milgram’s variations
• Variables were strictly controlled in all of the variations

Question 8

What is the Agentic State?

Answer 8

-A mental state in which we feel no personal responsibility for our actions as we believe we are just acting for a figure of authority

Question 9

What is Legitimacy of Authority?

Answer 9

-The authoritative power granted to someone by their social status that we naturally accept as we believe it is justified

Question 10

How can the Agentic State be criticised as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 10

• This explanation further supports the ‘obedience alibi’
• Doesn’t explain why some people choose not to obey
• Doesn’t explain obedience when no signs of anxiety can be observed (nurse study, Hofling et al)

Question 11

How is Legitimacy of Authority supported as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 11

• Blass and Schmitt (2001) found that most students agreed it was the experimenters fault when asked who was responsible in Milgram’s study
• Explains cultural differences in obedience (Australia 16%, Germany 85%)
• Practical application- can be related to real life large scale crimes

Question 12

What is the Authoritarian Personality?

Answer 12

-A type of personality characterised by a tendency to be more obedient to people of power and dismissive of those without

Question 13

What is said to cause an Authoritarian Personality?

Answer 13

• Strict or harsh parenting

- Scapegoating resentment of authority onto those of a ‘lower’ class or status

Question 14

How can the Authoritarian Personality be criticised as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 14

• Cannot explain when orders are accepted as a group (Nazi regime, it is unlikely that every Nazi had an authoritarian personality)
• Questions in the F-Scale are biased towards right-wing ideology
• Questions on the F-Scale are directed the same way (susceptible to acquiescence)
• Correlation is not causation, it is likely that there is a third factor which links these things