Obedience: Situational Variables

Question 1

What are the 3 situational variables?

Answer 1

Proximity
Location
Uniform

Question 2

How does Proximity affect obedience?

Answer 2

Decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions

-In proximity variation the teacher and learner were in the same room and obedience dropped from 65% to 40%

• In the remote instruction variation the obedience rate was 20.5% and participants faked shocks

Question 3

How does Location affect obedience?

Answer 3

Study was conducted in a rundown building rather than prestigous Yale Unviversity.

• Obedience rates dropped to 47.5%
• Obedience is higher in the university as the setting was legitimate and had authority.

Question 4

How does unifrom affect obedience?

Answer 4

The experimented wore a lab coat in the baseline
In a variation he had to leave at the start of the procedure and was replaced by an ordinary member of the public in everyday clothes

-Obedience fell to 20% ( LOWEST IN VARIATIONS)

• Uniform is a strong symbol of legitimate authority granted by society

Question 5

What is one strentgh of influence of situational variables?

Answer 5

Research supporting the influence of SV

• Bickman (1974) Milkman and security guard telling people to pick up trash
• People were 2x more likley to obey the guard than the milkman
• suggesting the SV of uniform does have a powerful effect on obedience

Question 6

What is another strength of SV research?

Answer 6

Cross cultural replication of Milgrams research

• Raaijmakers (1986) worked with dutch participants ordered to say stressfull comments to interviewees
• 90% obedience and obedience fell when the proximity decreased
• suggesting the findings are not bound to the US and are applicable accross cultures

Question 7

What is one limitation of SV research?

Answer 7

Low internal validity in the studies

• Holland (1968) argued the variations were even more likley to be guessed and seen as supicious due to extra experimental manipulation
  -Even Milgram recognised the Proximity variation was contrived so some participants may have worked it out
• therefore it is unclear if the results are due to obedience or due to demand characteristics