Obedience - Milgram's situational variables Flashcards
What are the 3 situational variables in Milgrim’s study ?
- proximity
- location
- uniform
What is the proximity situational variable ?
- the physical closeness between an authority figure and the person they are giving their orders to.
- When the experimenter and the participant were in the same room the obedience rates were 62.5%
- When the experimenter and the participant were in different rooms obedience dropped to 40%
What is the location situational variable ?
- Where an order is issued
- In the baseline study it was performed at Yale university
- in the variable it was performed at a run-down office block
- This decreased obedience
- The levels of full obedience = 47.5%
What is the uniform situational variable ?
- often authority figures wear uniforms
- In the baseline study the experimenter was wearing a grey lab coat.
- In the variation normal clothes were worn which decreased the levels of obedience
What were the levels of full obedience when it was the baseline study ?
65%
,
20.5
What were the levels of full obedience when the experimenter was in normal clothes ?
20%
What are the strength’s of Milgram’s situational variables ?
Research support
- Bickman = had three confederates dress in: Jacket and tie, milkman’s outfit and a security guard
- They asked people in the street to complete tasks such as picking up litter
- If the person was dressed as a security guard they were twice as more likely to be obedient
Cross-cultural replication
- His findings have been replicated in other cultures
- In Netherlands, ordered to say stressful things to a conferderate desperate for a job, 90% obeyed.
What is a limitation of Milgram’s situational variables ?
- Low internal validity
- Orne and Holland
- believed that the participants though this procedure was fake especially in the variables
