Obedience: Situational Variables

Question 1

What were the 3 situational variables Milgram used?

Answer 1

Proximity
Location
Uniform/ authority

Question 2

Outline the proximity variation and results

Answer 2

Teacher and learner are placed in the same room and obedience dropped from 65% to 40%.
Teacher had to force hearers hand onto electric plate and obedience dropped to 30%.
Experimenter left the room and gave teacher instructions over the phone and obedience dropped to 20.5% and some teachers even pretended to give the shocks.

Question 3

Outline the location variation and results

Answer 3

Did experiment in a run down office and obedience dropped to 47.5%.

Question 4

Outline uniform/ authority variation and results.

Answer 4

Experimenter (wearing a lab coat) is called away and replaced with another experimenter wearing normal clothes and obedience dropped to 20%

Question 5

Explain proximity variation results

Answer 5

Decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves from their actions, which is why conformity was highest when teacher and learner were in different rooms.

Question 6

Explain location variation results

Answer 6

Lack of prestige made the study seem to lack legitimacy and authority so participants felt less need to obey.

Question 7

Explain uniform/ authority variation results

Answer 7

Uniform encourages obedience as it is a symbol, of authority. We expect someone in uniform to require obedience. Someone without uniform has less right to our obedience.

Question 8

Strengths of Milgram’s variations

Answer 8

Support that uniform has impact on obedience: NYC field experiment found public is more likely to do a simple task (e.g pick up litter) if asked by someone in security uniform versus a milkman’s uniform or a jacket and tie.
Support that proximity has impact on obedience: in a Dutch experiment, participants were ordered to give less stressful questions to people who really wanted a job. 90% obeyed. When the person was not present, less people obeyed.

Question 9

Weakness of Milgram’s variations

Answer 9

Low internal validity: Orne and Holland suggested participants knew what was going on, so only ‘play acted.’
Used as an excuse for genocide: Mandel said Milgram’s results were being used as an alabi for evil behaviour.
Culturally unrepresentative: lack of replications in countries dissimilar to the US.