Obedience - Situational Variables

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. The person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish

Question 2

Milgram (1963) procedure

Answer 2

40 American men (ages 20-50) volunteered to take part in a study at Yale University, supposedly on memory. When each p arrived he was introduced to a confederate (Mr Wallace). They drew lots to see who would be the ‘teacher’ and who would be the ‘learner’. The draw was fixed so that the p was always the ‘teacher’. The ‘teacher’ had to give the ‘learner’ a shock every time they made a mistake on the ‘memory test’. The shocks were labelled to be increasingly dangerous but were actually fake

Question 3

Milgram (1963) findings

Answer 3

Every p delivered all shocks up to 300V. 12.5% stopped at 300V (‘intense shock’), 65% continued to 450V. Some p’s showed signs of extreme tension (eg. Shaking, sweating)

Question 4

Milgram (1963) conclusion

Answer 4

German people are not ‘different’. American p’s were willing to obey orders even when they might harm another person.

Question 5

Strengths of Milgrim (1963)

Answer 5

• Replicated in other cultures (eg. French documentary displayed almost identical behaviour as 80% delivered 450V shock)
• Real life application (eg. Awareness of Nazi obedience to destructive authority figures)

Question 6

Limitations of Milgrim (1963)

Answer 6

• Lacks internal validity (eg. Prestigious environment may have made participants think nothing bad would happen and Gina Perry suggested only 50% of participants actually believed)
• Conclusions may not be justified (According to SIT, p’s only okayed when they identified with the scientific aims of the study - ‘the experiment requires that you must continue’)
• Ethical issues (eg. Lack of informed consent and evidence of psychological disturbance)

Question 7

What are situational variables?

Answer 7

Features of the immediate physical and social environment which may influence a person’s behaviour

Question 8

What situational variables did Milgram identify?

Answer 8

Proximity, location, uniform

Question 9

How did proximity affect obedience?

Answer 9

When experimenter left the room, delivering instructions by telephone, obedience dropped to 20.5%. When teacher and learner were in the same room, obedience dropped from 65% to 40%. Due to decreased proximity allowing people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions

Question 10

How did location affect obedience?

Answer 10

In the run-down office block variation, obedience fell to 47.5%. Possibly as the prestigious university environment gave Milgrim’s study legitimacy and authority

Question 11

How did uniform affect obedience?

Answer 11

Instead of wearing a grey lab coat, when the experimenter was just an ‘ordinary member of the public’ obedience dropped to 20%. As uniforms ‘encourage’ obedience as they’re widely recognised as symbols of authority