Obedience - Milgram Flashcards
How does Milgram’s Study display the power of proximity over levels of obedience?
Proximity worked by: distance between teacher & learner / distance between teacher & experimenter
Milgram conducted variation where teacher & learner in same room - parties putting 450V dropped from 60-45% - obedience levels fell bc teacher understood learner’s pain directly
Milgram also found when experimenter left room & gave instructions over phone obedience levels fell to 20.5%
How does Milgram’s Study display the power of location over levels of obedience?
Original study conducted in Yale Uni lab
Variation conducted in rundown building in Bridgeport, Connecticut
In this variation parties putting full 450V fell from 65 - 47.5% -
Importance of creating prestigious atmosphere generating respect & obedience
How does Milgram’s Study display the power of uniform over levels of obedience?
In most variations, experimenter wore white lab coat - indicating status as uni prof / scientist
Experimenter called away & replaced by other ‘parti’ in normal everyday clothes pretending to be ordinary member of public
Ordinary man came up with idea of increasing voltage every time learner made mistake
Parties putting 450V dropped from 65% - 20%
What is the agency theory?
We’re socialised from very young age to follow rules of society
What is meant by the autonomous state?
When person acts independently
What is meant by the agentic shift?
To shift from autonomy to ‘agency’
What conditions did Milgram suggest should be in place for person to enter agentic state?
Person giving orders perceived as being qualified to direct other’s behaviour - seen as legitimate
Person being ordered believes authority will accept responsibility for what happens
Evaluate Social Psychological explanations for Obedience
Strength - research support for role of power of uniform affecting obedience rates
E.g. - Bickman (1974) conducted field experiment in NYC, confederates stood on street & asked members of public passing to do pick up litter. Outfits were smart jacket & tie / milkman / security guard.
Ex. - Public x2 likely to obey order from security guard, supporting Milgram’s idea uniform adds legitimacy of authority figure & also situational variable which increases obedience levels
Strength - Legitimacy of Authority useful account of cultural differences in obedience
E.g. - Kilmann & Mann (1974) replicated Milgram’s study in Australia & found only 16% of participants went to 450V. Mantell (1971) found 85% did it in Germany.
E.x. In some cultures, authority more likely to be accepted as legitimate & entitled to demand obedience from individuals. Reflects way different societies structured & how kids raised to perceive authority figures. Cross-cultural findings add validity
Limitation - Agentic State limited explanation & doesn’t explain many of research findings
E.g. - doesn’t explain why many of participants didn’t obey as humans social animals & involved in hierarchies: should all obey
E.x. - At best, agentic state only accounts for some situations of obedience
What are authoritarian personality characteristics?
Especially obedient to authority
Extreme respect for authority & submissiveness to it
Show contempt for people they perceive as having inferior social status & have highly conventional ideas about sex, race & gender
View society as “going to the dogs” & believe we need strong & powerful leaders to enforce traditional values like love of country, religion & family
Inflexible with outlooks - no grey areas
Evaluate the authoritarian personality
Strength - research support
E.g. - Milgram & Alan Elms (1966) conducted interviews with small sample of fully obedient participants who scored highly on F-Scale, believing might be link between obedience & authoritarian personality
Ex. - Link merely correlation between 2 measured variables - makes it impossible to draw conclusion authoritarian personality causes obedience on basis of this result. May be 3rd factor involved.
Limitation - limited explanation: hard to explain obedient behaviour in majority of country’s pop
E.g. - In pre-war Germany, millions of people displayed racist & anti-Semitic behaviour, despite fact they differed in personalities drastically. Seems extremely unlikely they could all possess authoritarian personality
Ex. - clear that alternative explanation more realistic - social identity explains obedience. Majority of German people identified with anti-Semitic Nazi state & scapegoated ‘outgroup’ of Jews
Limitation - political bias: F-Scale measures tendency towards extreme form of right-wing ideaology
E.g. - Christie & Jahoda (1954) argued this is politically biased interpretation of authoritarian personality. Left-wing (Russian Bolshevism) & right-wing authoritarianism have lot in common.
Ex. - Not comprehensive dispositional explanation that can account for obedience to authority across whole political spectrum
