Situational Factors Affecting Obedience: Proximity, Location, And Uniform

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

Type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order given by another person who usually has power/authority

Question 2

Milgram’s procedure

Answer 2

• 40 American men volunteered to take part in a study, supposedly on memory.
• The teacher was fixed to be the naive participant and the learner was going to be the confederate.
• The learner was strapped into a chair and wired up with electrodes.
• The shocks were not genuine but this was unknown to the teacher.
• Each time the learner made an error, the Teacher delivered a stronger electric shock but pressing switches on a shock machine. Labelled from slight shock to intense shock to danger - severe shock.
• Once at 300V, the learner pounded on the wall and then gave no response at the next question. At 315V he again pounded on the wall but was then silent for the rest of the procedure.
• Given prods from experimenter in order for the experimenter to continue

Question 3

Findings

Answer 3

All participants went to 300V
12.5% stopped at 300V - intense shock
65% went to the highest level of 450V

Question 4

Situational variables

Answer 4

He carried out a large number of variations in order to consideration the situational variables that might lead to more or less obedience.

Question 5

Proximity - FINDINGS

Answer 5

Original study - Teacher could hear the Learner, but not see him.

Proximity variation - Teacher and Learner were in the same room. The obedience rate dropped from 65% to 40%.
In the remote instruction variation, the Experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the Teacher by telephone. Obedience reduced 20.5%. The participants also frequently pretended to give shocks.

Question 6

Proximity - WHY

Answer 6

Decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions. For example, when the Teacher and Learner were physically separated, the Teacher was less aware of the harm they were causing to another person so they were more obedient.

Question 7

Location - FINDINGS

Answer 7

Milgram conducted a variation in a run-down office block rather than in the prestigious Yale University setting of the baseline study. Obedience fell to just 47.5%.

Question 8

Location - WHY?

Answer 8

The prestigious university environment gave Milgram’s study legitimacy and authority. Participants were more obedient in this location because they perceived that the Experimenter shared this legitimacy and that obedience was expected.

Question 9

Uniform - Findings

Answer 9

In the baseline study, the Experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of his authority (a kind of uniform). In one variation, the Experiment was called away because of an inconvenient telephone call. The role of the Experimenter was taken over by a confederate in everyday clothes rather than lab coat. The obedience rate dropped to 20%, the lowest of these variations.

Question 10

Uniform - WHY

Answer 10

Uniforms encourage obedience because they are widely recognised symbols of authority. We accept that someone in uniform is entitled to expect obedience because their authority is legitimate.

Question 11

Limitations of Milgram’s study

Answer 11

P - Lacks ecological validity
E - Milgram’s study was conducted in a laboratory in a controlled setting, meaning that they would be completing artificial tasks that they would not complete in everyday life. This is mundane realism, as we would usually obey subtle instructions rather than giving electrical shocks.

P - Broke several ethical guidelines
E - He did not give his participants the right to withdraw as they were given verbal prods to make them feel as though they have no choice and were deceived to the aim of the experiment. This matters because it shows that this puts them in a stressful position where they may experience serious psychological harm as a result.

P - Lack of population validity
E - Used a biased sample of 40 male volunteers, middle class Americans meaning we are unable to generalise results to the other populations. Cannot conclude if people would obey the same.
HOWEVER,
E - Blass who did a meta-analysis of obedience study found no difference in obedience rates between men and women.

Question 12

Strength of Milgram’s study

Answer 12

P - Real life support for Milgram’s obedience
E - Bickman, had three confederates dress in different outfits - jacket and tie, a milkman’s outfit, and a security guard’s uniform. The confederates individually stood in the street and asked passers-by to perform tasks such as picking up litter or handing over a coin for a Parking meter. People were twice as likely to obey the security guard than the one dressed in a jacket and tie.