Situational Variables Flashcards
What are situational variables ?
Milgram identified several factors that he believed influenced the level of obedience shown by participants
Proximity
In milgrams og study, the teacher and learner were in adjoining rooms, so the teacher could hear the learner but see him. In the proximity variation, they were in the same room and obedience rate dropped from baseline 65% to 40%
Location
Milgram changed the location of the obedience study. He conducted a variation of the study in a run-down building rather than the prestigious university setting. The experimenter has less authority and obedience fell from 65 to 46.5%
Uniform
In the original study, the experimenter wore a grey lab cost as a symbol of authority. Milgram carriedniut a variation in the experimenter was called away because of an inconvenient telephone call right at the start of the procedure. The role of the experimenter wad taken over by an ‘ordinary member of the public ‘ in everyday clothes. The obedience rate dropped to 20%
AO3-Research support
Field experiment in NY city, Bickman had 3 confederates dress in 3 diff outfits -jacket and tie , a milkman outfit and a security guards uniform. The confederates stood in the street and asked passers-by to perform tasks such as picking up litter. People were twice as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a security guard than the one dressed in a jacket and tie.
AO3- lack of internal validity
Orne and Holland’s criticism of Milgrams original study was that many of the participants worked out that the procedure was faked. It is even more likely that participants in Milgrams variations realised this because of the extra manipulation. A good example is the variation where the experimenter is replaced by a ‘member of public’. Even milgram recognised that this situation was so contrived that some participants may well have worked out the truth.
AO3-control of variables in Milgrams variations
A strength of Milgrams variations is that he systematically altered one variable at a time 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.
