Situational variables affecting obedience

Question 1

what is meant by situational variables

Answer 1

In his research Milgram identified several factors that he believed influenced the level of obedience shown by participants. They are all related to external circumstances rather than to the personalities of the people involved.

Question 2

what are Milgram’s situational variables

Answer 2

proximity
location
uniform

Question 3

what is meant by proximity

Answer 3

The physical closeness of the authority figure and of the victim (learner) to the participant (teacher)

Question 4

what were Milgram’s proximity variations

Answer 4

• The learner (victim) in the same room as the teacher (ppts)
• Orders were given over the phone to the participant
• Teacher forces the learner’s hand onto the shock plate.

Question 5

what was the baseline of participants going up to 450v

Answer 5

65%

Question 6

How many of the participants’ continued to 450v in the proximity variation where the victim was in the same room as the teacher.

and how does it compare to the baseline

Answer 6

40%
decreased from the baseline

Question 7

How many of the participants’ continued to 450v in the proximity variation where orders were given over the phone

Answer 7

20.5%
decreased from baseline
Here participants often pretended to give shocks or gave weaker than they were ordered to.

Question 8

How many of the participants’ continued to 450v in the proximity variation where the teacher forces the learner’s hand onto the shock plate.

Answer 8

30%
decreased from baseline

Question 9

what is meant by location

Answer 9

The place where the order was issued

Question 10

what were Milgram’s location variations

Answer 10

the baseline was at yale university a prestigious university. The variation was carried out in a run-down office

Question 11

How many of the participants’ continued to 450v in the location variation in the run-down office.

Answer 11

47.5%
decreased from baseline

Question 12

what is meant by uniform

Answer 12

people in positions of authority have specific outfits to signify this
eg. lab coat

Question 13

what were Milgram’s uniform variations

Answer 13

The experimenter was called away for a phone call at the start. Their role is taken by ‘an ordinary member of the pubic’ (a confederate) in everyday clothing - no uniform.

Question 14

How many of the participants’ continued to 450v in the uniform variation

Answer 14

20%
decreased form the baseline.

Question 15

what was Milgram’s original research (1963) aim

Answer 15

To investigate levels of obedience.
To investigate whether participants would obey until they caused someone serious harm.

Question 16

Outline the method of Milgram’s experiment (1963)

Answer 16

Participants were allocated the role of teacher, then has to test the memory of a confederate.
Each time a wrong answer was given the participant had to press a button which administered and electric shock. The voltage increased to 450v which was labled ‘death’.
Participants were prompted to continue if they asked to stop the experiment.

Question 17

give some additional details from Milgram’s (1963) experiment

Answer 17

the participants thought they got the role of teacher by lot.
No shocks were administered to the learner. Any painful cries or outbursts were played from a recording.
Participants were told it was an experiment into learning.

Question 18

what were the results of Milgram’s experiment (1963)

Answer 18

No participants stopped administering shocks before 300v. 12.5% (5 participants) stopped at 300v - intense shock.
65% of participants went all the way to the top of the shock scale 450v.
Qualititive data was also collected, many participants showed signs of stress, most objected but continued anyway. 3 participants had “full blown uncontrollable seizures”.

Question 19

what is the conclusion of Milgram’s experiment (1963)

Answer 19

People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognise their authority as morally right and/or legally based.

Question 20

give some additional details of the results of Milgram (1963)

Answer 20

Prior to the study Milgram had 14 psychology students predict the behaviour of the participants. They estimated that no more than 3% would go to 450v - this shows that the findings were unexpected.
All participants were debriefed and assured their behaviour was completely normal. 84% reported in a follow-up questionaire that they were glad to have participated.

Question 21

what were some ethical issues of Milgram (1963)

Answer 21

Deception
participants were told that the confederate was a participant, that it was a memory experiment, that they were administering shocks and were lead to believe that they were the teacher by chance.

Lack of right to withdraw
participants were given verbal prompts by the ‘experimenter’.
eg. “the experiment requires you to continue”/ “you have no other choice, you must go on”/ “please go on”

Question 22

what were some methodological issues of Milgram (1963)

Answer 22

Lab experiment
the enviroment and the tasks lack ecological validity.
paid
sampling method
the participants were all american males from the same area ranging in age from 20-50 years old.

Question 23

Evaluate Milgram’s variations - method - weakness

Answer 23

A Methodological weakness of Milgram’s research is that his findings have ony been tested in western cultures - by him in America, and others in Autralia and Spain. This is a weakness because these places are not culturally different. This means that it would be premature to conclude that Milgram’s findings about proximity, location and uniform apply to people everywhere.

Question 24

Evaluate Milgram’s variations - method - strength

Answer 24

A methodological strength of Milgram’s research is that other pieces of research have findings that support his conclusion such as Bickman (1974) who had confederates dress in different outfits - a jacket and tie, a milkman’s outfit, and a security guard’s uniform. They stood on the street and asked passers-by to pick up litter or give them a coin for parking. People were twice as likely to obey the confederate dressed as a security guard than the other 2.
This supports Milgram’s conclusion that uniform conveys the authority of its wearer and is a situational factor likely to produce obedience.

Question 25

evaluate Milgram (1963)
ethical - weakness

Answer 25

An ethical weakness of Milgram’s experiment was that the participants were not protected from harm, 3 had seizures and many others showed signs of distress. This is a weakness because it damages the reputation of psychology which makes it harder to find participants.

Question 26

evaluate Milgram (1963)
method - weakness

Answer 26

A methodological weakness of Milgram’s experiment is his sampling method of only american males living in the same area. This is a weakness because it is a very limited sample, this means that the findings cannot be generalised to the general public.

Question 27

Name someone who critisized Milgram and why

Answer 27

Orne and Holland’s critisism of the original study was that many of the participnts worked out that the procedure was faked.
It is even more likely that the participants realised in Milgram’s variations, because of the additional manipulation. A good example is the member of the public taking over for the experimenter.

Question 28

what is an alternative to Milgram

Answer 28

Hofling 1966

Question 29

what was the aim of Hofling hospital experiment 1966

Answer 29

To carry out a more realistic study of obedience than Milgram’s by conducting a field study on unaware nurses.

Question 30

outline the method of Hofling et al 1966

Answer 30

Field experiment involving 22 night nurses and Dr Smith (the researcher).
The doctor phones the nurses at a psychiatric hospital and asks them to check for a fake drug called Astroten which the bottle says has a maximum dosage of 10mg.
The doctor instructs them to give 20mg to a patient, stating he was in a hurry and would sign the authorisation later.

The nurses believed the drug to be real.
The call would end if the nurse went for advice

Question 31

what rules would the nurses have broken if they attempted to administer the drug in Hofling 1966

Answer 31

1. they weren’t allowed to accept instructions via phone
2. they couldnt give double the maximum dosage
3. The medicine itself was unauthorised

Question 32

what were the results of Hofling 1966

Answer 32

21/22 nurses (95%) attempted to administer the drug.
1 nurse questioned Dr Smith’s identity.
of the 21 nurses that tried 11 admitted to being aware it was double the maximum dosage, the other 10 didnt butjudged it safe as a doctor had ordered it.

Question 33

what is the conclusion of Hofling 1966

Answer 33

People are unwilling to question supposed authority, even when they have good reason.

Question 34

what factors were raised during the debrief

Answer 34

When interview later the nurses pointed out that many doctors were in the habit of giving orders by phone and became annoyed if they were not obeyed.
While against regulations unequal power relations between doctors and nurses meant the doctors would make life very difficult for nurses who didnt obey.

Question 35

what is a methodological strength of Hofling 1966

Answer 35

A methodological strength of the experiment is that it has high ecological validity as it was conducted in a real life situation with the nurses unaware they were taking part. This is a strength because we can be sure of a lack of demand characteristics which means the results are more reliable.

Question 36

what is an ethical weakness of Hofling 1966

Answer 36

deception - lack of informed consent - damage to psychology’s reputation - harder to find participants

Question 37

Who replicated Hofling 1966

Answer 37

Rank and Jacobson 1977

Question 38

Outline Rank and Jacobson 1977

Answer 38

• They replicated Hofling et al 1966 but altered it slightly. Being given an order over the phone had become unusual so was administering an unknown drug.
• So in this study the nurses were asked to administer valium, a drug the nurses would have been familiar with. They also gave the doctor a name familiar to the nurses and gave the nurses a chance to discuss with one another.
• In this study only 2 out of the 18 nurses obeyed.