Situational Variables

Question 1

What did milgram investigate?

Answer 1

The affect of 3 situational variables on obedience

Question 2

Proximity variation

Answer 2

Teacher and learner in the same room, obedience dropped from 65% to 40%

Question 3

Touch proximity variation

Answer 3

Teacher had to force learners hand onto shock plate, obedience fell to 30%

Question 4

Phone-instruction proximity variation

Answer 4

Experiment left room and gave instructions through phone, obedience fell to 20%

Question 5

Location variation

What does this show?

Answer 5

Held in a run down building rather than Yale uni. Obedience fell to 47%.

Experimenter had less authority in this setting

Question 6

Uniform variation

What does this show?

Answer 6

When an ‘ordinary member of the public’ in normal clothes replaces experiment in lab coat obedience falls to 20%

Uniform is a strong authoritative symbol

Question 7

STRENGTH: bickman study

Answer 7

Had confederates dress in a suit, a guards uniform and a milkmans. Asked passerbys for parking money. Found twice as many likely to obey guard.

Question 8

LIMITATION: very contrived

Answer 8

Orne and holland said demand characteristics are more likely in the variations study due to extra manipulation. Lacks internal validity

Question 9

STRENGTH: supports cultural differences

Problem with this?

Answer 9

Miranda found 90% obedience in Spanish students so milgrams findings aren’t limited to US makes.

Can’t conclude that findings apply everywhere as replications have only taken place in western societies

Question 10

STRENGTH: control of variables

Answer 10

Only 1 variable changed at a time, shoes cause and effect relationship clearly.