Obedience: Situational variables

Question 1

Who conducted research into the influence of situational variables over one’s behaviour?

Answer 1

Stanley Milgram:
After conducting his first study on obedience, Milgram carried out a large number of variations in order to consider the situational variables that might create greater or lesser obedience.

Question 2

What are situational variables?

Answer 2

In Milgram’s research he identified several factors that he believed influenced the level of obedience shown by participants. Each of these factors are related to the external circumstances rather than the personalities of the people involved.

Question 3

How many variations of his study did Milgram conduct?

Answer 3

Milgram conducted a total of three variations

Question 4

Which three variations did Milgram investigate?

Answer 4

Proximity, location and uniform

Question 5

What did Milgram mean by ‘proximity’?

Answer 5

The physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to. This could also refer to the physical closeness of the teacher to the victim (learner).

Question 6

In Milgram’s original study, what was the proximity between the teacher and the learner?

Answer 6

In his original study, the teacher and the learner were in adjoining rooms. This means that the teacher could hear the learner but not see him.

Question 7

In Milgram’s proximity variation, how was the teacher and the learner situated?

Answer 7

In the proximity variation, the teacher and the learner were in the same room. In an even more dramatic variation, the teacher had to force the learner’s hand onto an ‘electroshock’ plate when he refused to answer the question. During the third proximity variation, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the teacher by telephone.

Question 8

How were obedience levels influenced when the teacher and learner were put in the same room?

Answer 8

This variation caused the obedience rate to drop from 65% to 40%.

Question 9

How did obedience levels change under the ‘touch conformity’ condition?

Answer 9

The touch conformity condition caused the obedience rate to drop from 65% to 30%.

Question 10

How did obedience levels change under the ‘remote instruction’ condition?

Answer 10

The remote instruction condition caused the obedience rate to drop from 65% to 25.5%.

Question 11

What did Milgram mean by ‘location’?

Answer 11

Location refers to the place where an order is issued. The relevant factor that influences obedience is the status or prestige associated with the location.

Question 12

Where was Milgram’s original study conducted?

Answer 12

Milgram’s original study was conducted in a prestigious university (Yale University).

Question 13

How did Milgram manipulate the location of his study?

Answer 13

Milgram changed the location of the obedience study by conducting the variation in a run-down building rather than the prestigious university environment where it was originally conducted.

Question 14

How did the change in location influence the conformity rate?

Answer 14

The change in location from a prestigious university to a run-down building caused obedience to fall from 65% to 47.5%. This is because the experimenter had less authority in the new location.

Question 15

How does uniform usually act as a symbol of authority?

Answer 15

People in positions of authority often have a specific outfit that is symbolic of their authority (e.g. police officers and judges). This indicates to the rest of us who is entitled to expect our obedience.

Question 16

In Milgram’s original baseline study, what did the experimenter wear?

Answer 16

The experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of his authority (a kind of uniform).

Question 17

How did Milgram manipulate the uniform of the experimenter?

Answer 17

Milgram carried out a variation in which the experimenter was called away because of an inconvenient telephone call right at the start of the procedure. The role of the experimenter was taken over by an ‘ordinary member of the public’ (played by a confederate) in everyday clothes rather than a lab coat.

Question 18

How did Milgram’s manipulation of uniform influence the level of conformity?

Answer 18

This variation caused the obedience rate to drop to 20% from 65%. This is the lowest of the variations.

Question 19

Evaluation point: ‘One strength of Milgram’s investigation into situational variables derives from research support provided by Bickman in 1974’. Write a paragraph outlining this AO3 point.

Answer 19

One strength of Milgram’s investigation into situational variables derives from research support provided by Bickman in 1974. In a field experiment in New York city, Bickman had three confederates dress in three different outfits: a jacket and tie, a milkman’s outfit and a security guard’s uniform. The confederates stood in the street and asked passers-by to perform tasks, such as picking up litter. He found that people were twice as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a security guard than the one dressed in a jacket and tie. This therefore acts as a strength of Milgram’s research into situational variables because it supports his conclusion that a uniform conveys the authority of its wearer and is a situational factor likely to produce obedience. Because similar findings have been maintained over time, Milgram’s research is thought to be high in reliability and temporal validity. Additionally, because Bickman conducted his experiment with genuine passers-by, Milgram’s study has external validity and real life application. Critics do however challenge this research support by highlighting the fact that it was again conducted in a Western culture. As a result, Milgram’s study cannot be generalised to aid our understanding of how individuals conform in alternative societies. In this light, Milgram’s research can be criticised for being culture bias and thus lacking in population validity.

Question 20

Evaluation point: ‘A strength of Milgram’s research is its ability to be applied to other cultures’. Write a paragraph outlining this AO3 point.

Answer 20

A strength of Milgram’s research is its ability to be applied to other cultures. Miranda et al, for example, found an obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students. This acts as a strength of Milgram’s study because according to this cross-cultural evidence, Milgram’s conclusions regarding obedience are not limited to American males, but are valid across cultures and apply to females too. In this light, Milgram’s study is culturally relative because it aims to view culture from the ‘inside’ as opposed to imposing one’s own cultural values onto another. As a result, his theory of obedience can be applied to other societies, resulting in high population validity and cultural validity. This had however been criticised by Smith and Bond who made the crucial point that most replications have taken place in Western, developed societies, such as Spain and Australia. These are culturally not that different from the USA, so it would be premature to conclude that Milgram’s findings about conformity, location and uniform can be generalised to people everywhere.

Question 21

Evaluation point: ‘One strength of Milgram’s variations is the level of control that was exercised when changing the conditions’.

Answer 21

One strength of Milgram’s variations is the level of control that was exercised when changing his conditions. For example, Milgram systematically altered one variable at a time (e.g. proximity) to see what effect it would have on the level of obedience. All the other procedures and variables were kept the same as the study was replicated over and over again with more than 1000 participants in total. This therefore acts as a strength of Milgram’s research because it enables a psychologist to confidently conclude that the changes in obedience rates are the direct result of a change in the environmental conditions. Consequently, Milgram’s study is thought to be high in internal validity, which allows cause and effect to be established without the unwanted influence of extraneous variables. Additionally, because 1000 participants were tested, a nomothetic law, which aims to establish general laws of human behaviour, can be established. In this light, Milgram’s experiment gives us insight into what factors are generally likely to cause obedient behaviour. The high level of control exerted over the situational variables can however be challenged because it makes it more likely that the participants are acting on demand characteristics, which would in turn lower the validity of the findings.