Obedience: Gender

Question 1

What are 2 pieces of research that reject gender differences in obedience?

Answer 1

• Milgram (1963)
• Burger (2009)

Question 2

What is a weakness of gender affecting obedience?

Milgram (1963) rejecting evidence - PEE

Answer 2

P - Milgram’s (1963) study rejects the idea that gender affects obedience
E - He found that men and women were equally as obedient (65% obeyed to 450V in both) however stress levels in women were higher
E - Therefore, this shows that gender does not link to levels of obedience, and the stress could be due to women being regarded as generally more empathetic than men

Question 3

What is a weakness of gender affecting obedience?

Burger (2009) rejecting evidence - PEE

Answer 3

P - Burger (2009) rejects the idea that gender differences affect obedience
E - He replicated Milgram’s study, but stopped at 165V with experimenter interjection and had the confederate verbally protest at 150V
E - Due to him finding no significant difference between men and women, he concluded that gender does not affect obedience

Question 4

What are 2 pieces of research that support gender differences in obedience?

Answer 4

• Sheridan and King (1972)
• Kilham and Mann (1974)

Question 5

What is a strength of gender affecting obedience?

Sheridan and King (1972) - PEE

Answer 5

P - Sheridan and King’s (1972) study supports
E - Conducted a study like Milgram’s, only they used a puppy as the learner, who was visible to ppts and was given real shocks
E - Found that 100% of females were fully obedient whilst only 54% of males were obedient, concluding that gender did affect levels of obedience

Question 6

What is a strength of gender affecting obedience?

Kilham and Mann (1974) - PEE

Answer 6

P - Kilham and Mann’s (1974) study supports
E - They found that 40% of Australian male students obeyed compared to 16% of the females giving the maximum shock in a replication of Milgram’s study
E - Due to ppts being paired with people of their gender they suggested women were more likely to for an alliance and oppose the experimenter

Question 7

What is a weakness of gender affecting obedience?

Blass (1999) - PEE

Answer 7

P - Many studies find no gender differences
E - Thomas Blass (1999) summarised the findings of nine Milgram-style studies that included both male and female ppts
E - In all but one case there was no significant difference in the observed levels of obedience between men and women. Therefore, this suggests that gender does not affect obedience