obedience: situation affecting obedience Flashcards
What does Milgram believe about situation affecting obedience?
Milgram thought that situation affects obedience rather than obedience being due to individual differences. Ppts mainly obeyed, even though they were distressed, because of the situation (experiment), rather than differences in individuals.
What did Milgram’s variations show?
He barked situations to see if this was the ‘cause’ of obedience. They showed that less pressure form authority resulted in lower obedience. As the situation changes so does the obedience level. Eg, rundown office block had less obedience then when carried out at Yale university and when the orders were given over the telephone, obedience dropped. Each variation the situation changed and it was concluded the obedience dropped because of the changes to the situation.
What is meant by legitimacy within situation?
Deducting the perceived legitimacy of the authority figure, through altering their mode of dress eg, can reduce obedience. Similarly, reducing the prestige or status of the venue (Milgram’s variation) also leads to reduction in obedience.
What is meant by proximity within situation?
When the distance between the authority figure and ppt is increased, obedience reduces, as in Milgram’s telephone variation. Latane 1981 used the term immediacy in SIMPT to refer to closeness of the target in terms of space and also time.
What is meant by behaviour of others within situation?
The exposure to role models who are disobedient decreases obedience - in one of Milgram’s variations (two peers rebel, exp 17) there are two further teachers (confederates) who refused to carry on. Obedience dropped to 10% illustrating how the presence of others may affect obedience.
Strengths of situation affecting obedience
Lots of evidence to suggest the situation effects obedience
Milgram’s research clearly shows changes in the situation affect the obedience demonstrated by ppts
Weaknesses of situation affecting obedience
Evidence lacks ecological validity - all from lab research, not true to real life
Personality differences may have been the cause, there were variations in how obedience individual ppts were in the same experiments.
Weaknesses of situation affecting obedience
Evidence lacks ecological validity - all from lab research, not true to real life
Personality differences may have been the cause, there were variations in how obedience individual ppts were in the same experiments.
