Responses to people in Authority

Question 1

what is the background for Milgram study 1963?

Answer 1

The holocaust (historical example)
-member of a European Jewish family
Wanted to know why people obey Nazis

Abu ghraib abuses- Lyndie England(modern example)
-abuse of Iraqi detainers, physical sexual torture, rape murder
they did it because it was their job and it was already happening?

Question 2

What was the aim of Milgram study?

Answer 2

‘to investigate how obedient people would be to following orders, administering electric shocks that would result in pain and harm from a persons authority’

Question 3

what was the design for Milgram study?

Answer 3

Design
lab experiment- technically a controlled observation. DV= obedience, operationalised as maximum voltage

Question 4

what was the sample for Milgram study?

Answer 4

Sample
40 males 20–50 year old from New Haven, Connecticut
androcentric

Question 5

How did Milgram obtain his participants?

Answer 5

obtained by newspaper advertisement, asked for people to participate in a study of memory and learning at Yale University

Question 6

How much were milgrams participants paid?

Answer 6

$4.50

Question 7

how did Milgram start the procedure?

Answer 7

participants introduced to learner told cover story, two names to see who was who, but it was rigged both said teacher 

Question 8

when the teacher saw the learner strapped to the chair in milligrams experiment, what were they told about the shocks? 

Answer 8

they were extremely painful, but no long-lasting tissue damage 

Question 9

How many volts was the test shock that the teacher was given?

Answer 9

45 V

Question 10

what test did the learner have to complete? (M)

Answer 10

A word test the teacher read the first word, and then four other words only one was correct. The answer was shown by lights. 

Question 11

What punishment did the teacher have to give if the answer was wrong in milgrams study

Answer 11

an electric shock, each mistake the teacher had to move up a level in 15 V increments 

Question 12

what was the range of vaults?

Answer 12

15 V to 450 V 

Question 13

what did the learner do at 300 V?

Answer 13

pounded heavily on the wall and gave no answer 

Question 14

what four verbal products did the experiment is give when the participants wanted to stop the experiment

Answer 14

Please continue, please go on
The experiment requires you to continue
You have no choice, you must go on
it is absolutely essential that you continue 

Question 15

what did Milgram do after the study finished?

Answer 15

fully debriefed participants by interviewing them using open ended questions 

Question 16

How many participants went to 300 V

Answer 16

100%, 40 out of 40

Question 17

how many participants went to 450 V

Answer 17

65%, 26 out of 40

Question 18

How many participants were obedient? (m)

Answer 18

26

Question 19

how many participants were disobedient?

Answer 19

14

Question 20

what were the signs of extreme stress shown?

Answer 20

Sweating, trembling, stuttering, laughing, nervously

Question 21

how many had full blown uncontrollable seizures?

Answer 21

Three

Question 22

Milgram, what did the participants do after the experiment ended?

Answer 22

sighs of relief, wiped brows, fumbled for cigarettes, shook head in regret 

Question 23

How many students completed the survey that was carried out prior to the study?(m)

Answer 23

14. University students. 

Question 24

what did the students who carried out the survey predict the levels of obedience would be?

Answer 24

Low, they estimated only 3% would continue to the end 

Question 25

Which hypothesis did the findings for milgram support?

Answer 25

Situational hypothesis
(m)

Question 26

What is a situational hypothesis?

Answer 26

A hypothesis that predicts people carry out the actions they do due to their environment, or social situation 

Question 27

what are dispositional factors? 

Answer 27

unique characteristics that influence behaviours and attitudes, for example, personality, or genes 

Question 28

What were the non-impossible reasons Milgram identified for the level of obedience

Answer 28

-respectful environment at a university
-Worthwhile aim
-Learner volunteered, so has obligation
teacher also volunteered so has obligation
-features of the design (payment) increase the sense of obligation 
-they were lucky to not endure the shocks
-rights to withdraw are not obvious
-Shocks, ‘not dangerous’
-learner appeared comfortable for first 300 V 

Question 29

What’s are some strengths of Milgrams study?

Answer 29

Reliability-each participant gave same instructions in the same order (standardised procedure)
Usefulness - shows how authority figures can have negative impacts and can lead to harm 

Question 30

What are some weaknesses of Milgram study?

Answer 30

ethics- participants can be psychologically harmed due to administering electric shocks three had uncontrollable seizures
Ecological validity - carried out in a lab environment with authority, figures mundane realism

Question 31

What did Bocchiaro et al (2012) investigate?

Answer 31

disobedience and whistleblowing

Question 32

what was the background for Bocchiaro research?

Answer 32

investigate how whistleblowers think I feel, and if they have certain psychological characteristics in common
investigate why some individuals decide to disobey authority figures
badpractice in NHS

Question 33

What were the aims of Bocchiaros research?

Answer 33

to investigate the accuracy of peoples estimates of obedience, disobedience and whistleblowing
to investigate the role of dispositional factors in obedience, disobedience and whistleblowing 

Question 34

how many pilot studies did bocchiaro carry out and how many participants were used in total?

Answer 34

eight pilot studies.
92 Participants

Question 35

Who made up Bocchiaro sample?

Answer 35

undergraduate students from the Vu University of Amsterdam
149 96 women and 53 men with a mean age of 20.8 years

Question 36

How was his sample selected?

Answer 36

volunteers, recruited by flyers posted in the university cafeteria
(b)

Question 37

how many participants were surveyed about how they would respond in the experimental situation in bocchiaros study?

Answer 37

138 different participants

Question 38

(m)What is the experimental design?

Answer 38

lab study

Question 39

How much was each participant paid? (b)

Answer 39

seven euros or given course credit offered regular paid work in the future

Question 40

(b)What were the participants told they were doing?

Answer 40

write a statement to convince other students to take part in the sensory deprivation procedure
which they were told, had previously taken place, but all participants panicked, and some asked for it to be stopped

Question 41

The participants were told they had to use at least two words from what list

Answer 41

Exciting
Incredible
Great
superb

Question 42

What were the participants left alone in the room with?

Answer 42

A computer, a mailbox and some ethic committee forms

Question 43

How was obedience/disobedience measured?

Answer 43

whether the participant composed the statement

Question 44

how was whistleblowing measured?

Answer 44

if they completed an ethics form and mailed it

Question 45

Bocchiaro, what were the dispositional measures the participants were given?

Answer 45

-The HEXACO-PI-R personality test- measures 6 personality traits (honesty, emotionality, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience)
-The decomposed games measure of social values (if personal values benefit all or just yourself)
-Religiosity (religious affiliation, frequency of worship, extent of faith)

Question 46

How long did Bocchiaro whole procedure take?

Answer 46

40 minutes

Question 47

in the what would you do study how many participants believed they would personally obey

Answer 47

3.6%

Question 48

In what would you do study how many participants believed they would blow the whistle?

Answer 48

64.5%

Question 49

In the what would you do study how many participants believe they would disobey?

Answer 49

31.9%

Question 50

In the actual experiment, how many participants obeyed bocchiaro

Answer 50

76.5% 114 participants

Question 51

in the actual experiment, how many participants disobeyed

Answer 51

14.1% 21 participants

Question 52

in the actual experiment, how many participants blew the whistle?

Answer 52

9.4% 14 participants 

Question 53

What were the five main conclusions that can be drawn from bocchiaros research?

Answer 53

-people tend to see themselves as special
-People over estimate tendency to blow the whistle and underestimate the likelihood of obedience
-In accuracy of estimates of behaviour, suggest scenario based research, lacks validity
-People are very obedient and whistleblowing is uncommon
-personality traits and religious affiliation have no association with obedience, disobedience or whistleblowing

Question 54

what are possible weaknesses of Bocchiaros study? 

Answer 54

ecological validity- lab experiment in controlled conditions

Ethics - deception, lied to about why they needed the statement

Question 55

possible strength of Bocchiaros study?

Answer 55

Data- lots of quantitative data, percentages

Generalisability - large sample size, lots of pilot studies

Question 56

how are Bocchiaro and Milgrams studies similar?

Answer 56

both are within the social psychology area and focus on obedience to orders and instructions
Both are in a controlled environment
Applications that predict tackling tendency to a others orders that lead to the harm of others
both paid participants to influence participation

Question 57

how are Bocchiaro and Milgrams studies different?

Answer 57

M involves direct orders from authority figure to commit physical violence
B more every day situation so more relevant to understanding every day in justices. help to understand why bad practices at work, take time to be identified
B investigating whistleblowing, in addition to obedience and disobedience
B scenario study
M applicable to atrocities used by international criminal court