Obedience - Sitautional Variables Flashcards
What are the situational variables and used in what
Proximity
Location
Uniform
Milgrams experiment
What happened in the proximity variation
Teacher and learner were in the same room
Obedience rate dropped to 65-40%
What was the dramatic version of proximity in milgrams variations
Teacher had to force the learners hand into the electroshock plate when he refused to answer
Obedience dropped to 30%
What was the last proximity variation
Experimenter left the room and gave intructions to the teacher by phone
Reduced obedience by 20.5%
What happened in the location variation
Conducted experiment in a run down building
Experimenter has less authority and obedience fell to 47.5%
What happened in the uniform variation
Experimenter was called Away because of an inconvenient telephone call
So ordinary member of the public took the role of the experimenter in everyday clothes
Obedience dropped to 20%
What research supports the situation variables of obedience
Field experiment
Bickman
3 confederates dress in 3 different outfits
Jacket and tie/ milkman / secruity gaurd
Asked people in the street to pick up litter or give them money
People were twice as likely to obey security guard
What was a criticism of milgrams variations
Participants worked out it was fake especially for the member of public one
So makes it lack internal validity and makes it unclear whether the results are genuine
Why is it good that milgrams work has been replicated in other cultures
Where has it been found
Makes it more generalisable
Miranda et al found an obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students
What study contradicts the cross cultural replication
Smith and bond
Most replications took place in western developed societies which are not that culturally different from USA so can apply it everywhere
