(SI) Obedience

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

Result of social influence whereby somebody acts in response to a direct order from an authority figure

Question 2

What is a situational variable?

Answer 2

Relating to the location and surroundings of a place

Question 3

What is a dispositional variable?

Answer 3

State of somebody’s mind; characteristics, personality traits

Question 4

Name an experiment done into obedience? (Situational)

Answer 4

Milgram - Shock Experiment (1962)

Question 5

Explain Milgram’s experiment

Answer 5

• 40 American men given the role of Teacher through fixed draw
• Ordered to give (fake) shocks to Learner (Confederate)
• Shocks increased with 15V with each mistake on memory task, up to 450V (Foot in the door phenomena)
• No participant stopped before 300V - 65% went to 450V

Question 6

Explain the factors of Milgram’s Experiment

Answer 6

Proximity - Close to authority figure, far from learner, increases obedience
Buffer - Placed between Teacher and Learner - can’t see consequences of actions - increased obedience
Authority Figure wore uniform
Agentic Shift - Experimenter stated he would take all responsibility for what happens - increased obedience

Question 7

Evaluate Milgram’s experiment

Answer 7

+ Highly controlled
+ Highly replicable

• Ethical issues - protection from harm, difficult to withdraw, deception (told it was to investigate learning when pain was a punishment)
• Highly artificial

Question 8

Name 2 experiments done to support Milgram’s Experiment

Answer 8

Hofling et al - Obedient Nurses

Bickman - Power of Uniforms

Question 9

Explain the ‘Obedient Nurses’ Experiment

Answer 9

• Participant (nurse) would receive a phone call from an unknown doctor, who asked her to administer (20g) of a drug that was unknown, giving twice the maximum dose allowed
• 95% of nurses gave (harmless) medication

Question 10

Give an experiment, and explain, that disproves the ‘Obedient Nurses’ Experiment

Answer 10

Rank and Jacobson

• Done it again, with a drug that doctors know
• 2 of 18 nurses gave that drug

Question 11

Explain Bickman’s experiment

Answer 11

• 3 male experimenters gave orders to pedestrians in New York
• Dressed in either civilian-wear, a milkman’s uniform or a police uniform
• Obedience was highest when they were dressed in the police uniform

Question 12

Name a theory and study done into Dispositional Factors

Answer 12

Adorno’ Study

Authoritarian Personality

Question 13

Explain the ‘authoritarian personality’

Answer 13

1) Overly strict parenting - Critical of child’s behaviour, then child internalises this and expects everyone else to behave like this
2) Conditional love - Child only receives love when behaving correctly
3) Child feels some hostility towards parents because of this, but takes this out on those of a lower social status than themselves
(Scapegoating - relieving anxiety and hostility on those considered lower than themselves)

Question 14

Explain the research done into the ‘authoritarian personality’ theory

Answer 14

• Spoke to 2000 middle-class white Americans and created a ‘Fascist-Scale’ - high score meaning authoritarian personality
• Gave this to those of Milgram’s study before they participated
• Strong correlation between those with an authoritarian personality and those that were obedient

Question 15

Evaluate Adorno’s research

Answer 15

• Political bias - F-scale measures right wing attitudes - there were left wing people with Authoritarian Personality
• Sampling issues - population bias - only middle-class Americans used + 2000 of them

Question 16

What is the agentic state?

Answer 16

Mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our actions as we are acting on behalf of an authority figure