situational variables affecting obedience (lesson 5)

Question 1

describe the situational variable proximity in the Milgram study

Answer 1

proximity: Awareness of how the shocks are affecting the participants. this is manipulated via physical location and distance. in the original study the learner was in a separate room with obedience at 65 %. in a variation with the learner in the same room as the teacher obedience dropped to 40%. and when the teacher had to force the hand of the learners onto a shock plate, obedience dropped to 30%.

the proximity of the experimenter also was changed which affected obedience. the experimenter directed the teacher over the phone. obedience dropped to 21 %

Question 2

describe the situational variable location in the Milgram study

Answer 2

location: legitimate authority influences how likely someone is to obey. the original research was conducted at Yale university, when replicated at an office block in a run-down area obedience dropped to 48 %

Question 3

describe the situational variable uniform in the Milgram study

Answer 3

uniform: the use of appropriate clothing also demonstrates the legitimate of authority effect, in the original study the experimenter had a grey lab coat on. In another experiment the experimenter was called away and the place was taken by an individual in regular clothing. the obedience dropped to 40%

Question 4

what supporting research was there by Bickman

Answer 4

Bickman investigated the effect of uniform worn by confederates on obedience. The confederates asked members of the public on New York streets to pay a parking meter for an individual. obedience when dressed in a suit was 19%, as a milkman uniform 14%, and as a security guard 38%. this supports Milgram’s research that some uniforms have more legitimate authority and as a field experiment it had high external validity and avoided demand characteristics