P1 Social Influence: Topic 4: Obedience Flashcards
What is obedience?
- Social influence when an individual follows a direct order.
- Person who gives order has power and the authority to punish, when obedience isn’t given.
What hypothesis did Milgram aim to test?
- “Germans are different - they are more obedient”.
- Based on atrocities committed in WW2.
- Set out to investigate how the situational context could lead to ordinary people inflicting harm on others.
What was Milgram’s procedure?
- 40 male participents aged 20-50.
- Naive participent ‘randomly’ assigned to teacher role and a confederate played role of learner.
- Learner strapped in ‘electric chair’ in room next door. Each mistake, teacher administrated shock, increasing voltage by 15V for each incorrect answer. Generator had switches with labels.
- Confederate shouted at 180V that he couldn’t bear pain no longer. At 300V he screamed and complained his heart was troubling him. At 315V he refused to continue and then made no responses to teacher’s questions.
- Most participents protested and wanted to stop. Many showed extreme anxiety. Experimenter gave prods to encourage then to continue: “please continue”; “you have no other choice, you must go on”. Experiment continued until teacher refused to continue or until 450V was reached.
What were the findings and conclusions from Milgram’s procedure?
- Before study psychology students predicted no more than 3% of participents would go up to full 450V.
- 65% went up to 450V.
- 12.5% stopped at 300V.
- No participents stopped before 300V.
- Many participents were sweating, groaning and some had seizures.
What is La Jeu de la Mort?
The ‘Game of Death’
- French TV game show where contestants were paid to give (fake) shocks to other participents (actors) when told to by presenter.
- 80% went to max shock level of 460V to an ‘unconscious’ man.
- They showed similar behaviour to those in Milgram’s study (nail biting, nervous laughter),
What did Hoffling do?
- In 1966, he carried out similar study to Milgram’s but in more realistic setting (field experiment).
- 22 nurses were phoned by an unknown doctor and asked to administer an overdose of an unfamiliar drug to a patient.
What were the findings of the Hoffling experiment?
21/22 nurses (95%) obeyed orders without question.
What did Rank & Jacobson do in a similar follow up study to Hoffling’s study? (1977)
They altered some aspects.
- Nurses now told face-to-face with doctor .
- Nurses asked to administer a real drug (Valium).
- Nurses given chance to discuss orders with one another.
What were the findings of the Rank & Jacobson study?
These circumstances were more realistic.
- Only 2/18 nurses (11%) obeyed.
What did Orne & Holland say about Milgram’s study?
What does this mean?
They criticised it.
- They said participants acted as if they didn’t believe the set up, they were ‘play acting’.
- This would mean Milgram’s study had low internal validity.
Why did Milgram’s study have low internal validity?
The experiment was not measuring what he wanted it to measure.
What did Milgram say in response to the criticism?
He believes 75% of participants thought shocks were real.
What did Sheridan & King do?
In 1972, they conducted a procedure similar to Milgram’s.
- Used real shocks to a puppy.
- Puppies were given small shocks (but particpants believed shocks were increasing in V) .
- Puppies had a sedative which eventually made dog appear dead.
What were the findings of the Sheridan & King procedure?
Obedience rates of 54% for males and 100% for females.
What is the Alternative Explanation to Milgram’s study?
Social identity theory, proposed by Tajfel.
- People gain sense of pride and self-esteem by belonging to group.
- Participants willing to obey when experimenter used prods such as ‘experiment requires you continue’. SID explains that, as participants see themselves as part of important psychological research, the group identity encourages them to obey.
- When experimenter used prod ‘you have no choice, you must go on’ all refused to obey authority figure.
- This suggests social identity theory is reason for obedience, not obedience to an authority figure.
