Situational variables affecting obedience to authority (proximity, location, uniform) Flashcards
situational variables
- He found that situational factors might explain behaviour better than his original belief that obedience might be due to personality
- In his research, Milgram identified several factors that he believed influenced the level of obedience shown by the pps
- These are all related to the external circumstances rather than to the personalities of the people involved
what were the situational variables Milgram used
- proximity
- location
- uniform
what is proximity
- This refers to the physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to
- In Milgram’s study, this also refers to the physical closeness of the ‘teacher’ to the learner
what were the effects of proximity (compared to the original study)
orignal:
- Teacher and learner were in adjoining rooms: 65%
variation:
- Teacher and learner in same room: 40%
- Milgram changed the variables in a variety of ways in order to study the effects of proximity
- One condition required the ‘teacher’ to force the ‘learner’s hand onto an electroshock plate when he refused to answer a question – touch proximity
- In this condition the obedience rate dropped to 30%
- In another condition, the experimenter left the room and gave the instructions to the teacher by telephone – remote proximity
In this condition the obedience rate dropped to 20.5%
- The pps in this condition also frequently pretended to give shocks or gave much weaker shocks than they had been ordered to give
location
- this refers to the place where an order is issued
- The relevant factor that influences obedience is the status or prestige associated with the location
what were the effects of location (compared to the original study)
original:
- A prestigious university setting - Yale: 65%
variation:
- Changed location to a run-down office downtown: 47.5%
uniform
- People in positions of authority often have a specific outfit that is symbolic of their authority
- This indicates to the rest of us who is entitled to expect our obedience
what were the effects of uniform (compared to the original study)
original:
- Experimenter wore a lab coat: 65%
variation:
- Role of experimenter carried out by ordinary member of the public (confederate): 20%
what are the +Ve AO3 points
- research support: Bickman, Bushman
- control of variables + cross-cultural replications
expand on the +VE AO3 point, Bickman’s research
- tested the ecological validity of Milgram’s work by conducting an experiment in a more realistic setting.
- In this study, three male researchers gave direct requests to 153 randomly selected pedestrians in Brooklyn, New York.
- The researchers were dressed in one of three ways:
- guards uniform (similar to that of a police officer)
- milkman’s uniform
- civilian clothing (sports jacket and tie)
- The researcher then gave pedestrians one of the following three instructions:
- Nodding in the direction of a large bag on the ground, “Pick up this bag for me”
- Pointing to another confederate sitting in a nearby car, “That man is over-parked at the meter but doesn’t have change. Give him a dime”
- Walking up to a participant at a bus stop and saying, “You have to stand on the other side of this pole”
- Bickman observed that 80% of participants obeyed the researcher who was dressed to look like a police officer
- whereas 40% of those approached by the researcher wearing civilian clothing or the milkman’s uniform obeyed the request.
- These findings therefore provide further evidence that obedience is influenced by the amount of authority a person is perceived to have.
expand on the +ve AO3 point, Bushman’s research
- Bushman (1988) carried out a study where a female researcher, dressed either in a ‘police-style’ uniform, as a business executive or as a beggar, stopped people in the street and told them to give change to a male researcher for an expired parking meter.
- When she was in uniform, 72% of the people obeyed
- whereas obedience rates were much lower when she was dressed as a business executive (48%)
- or as a beggar (52%).
- When interviewed afterwards, people claimed they had obeyed the woman in uniform because she appeared to have authority
expand on the +ve AO3 point, control of variables + cross-cultural replications
- Controlling variables like this means that it is possible for other researchers to replicate (repeat) the study in the exact same way.
- This is important in science to make sure that findings are not just one-off chance events.
- Both Milgram’s original study, and his variations have been replicated in other cultures and have found similar results. - This suggests that Milgram’s findings are not limited to American males, but are valid across all cultures (and apply to women).
- This suggests a robust phenomenon is being studied.
- However, most replications have been carried out in Western societies.
what are the -ve AO3 points
- lack of internal validity
- the ‘obedience’ alibi
expand on the -ve AO3 point, lack of internal validity
- The original study has been criticised as it was suggested that the pps guessed that the shocks were not real and therefore their ‘real’ behaviour was not being measured.
- It is even more likely that the pps in the variations realised that this was not a real study and they were being manipulated.
- Therefore their behaviour may simply have been demand characteristics
expand on the -ve AO3 point, the ‘obedience alibi’
- Some people consider a situational perspective on the Holocaust offensive because it removes personal responsibility from the perpetrators.
- To suggest that Nazi executioners of Jews were ‘only doing their duty by obeying orders’ implies that they were also the victims of situational pressures, and that anyone faced with a similar situation would have behaved in the same way.
- It runs the risk of trivialising genocide
