situational variables affecting obedience inc. Milgram

Question 1

how does uniform affect obedience

Answer 1

• more likely to obey someone wearing a uniform as it gives them a higher status and greater sense of legitimacy

Question 2

how does location affect obedience

Answer 2

• more likely to obey someone in a location linked to higher status and legitimacy

Question 3

how does proximity affect obedience

Answer 3

• more likely to obey when they’re less able to see the negative consequences of their actions
• more likely to obey when in closer proximity to authority figure

Question 4

what did Bickman find about uniform

Answer 4

• highest obedience = security guard
• middle obedience = milkman
• lowest obedience = civilian
• suggests that wearing a uniform in general makes people obey more
• also suggests that uniforms associated with more legitimate authority creates higher obedience rates

Question 5

what did Milgram find about location

Answer 5

• higher obedience rates in Yale than in rundown office
• this is because the prestigious nature of specific locations demand obedience from participants as well as increasing the trust that they place in the researchers

Question 6

what did Milgram find about proximity

Answer 6

• experimenter in the same room = 62.5% obedience
• experimenter over the phone = 20.5%
• suggests that less proximity means lower levels of obedience

Question 7

give an overview of Milgram’s procedure

Answer 7

• whenever the confederate/learner got a question wrong, the participant as ordered to give an electric shock
• the volts incremented 15v at a time with 330v marked as lethal
• the experimenter gave orders and prods when they refused to give shocks

Question 8

what did Milgram find

Answer 8

• 100% went up to 300v
• 62.5% went up to 450v
• only 12.5% stopped at 300v

Question 9

what are some strengths of milgram study

Answer 9

• debriefing = thoroughly debriefed of the real aims in attempt to deal with the devotion
• real-life applications = opened our eyes to obedience and so may reduce future obedience in response to destructive authority figures
• high internal validity = 70% believed the shocks were real, some experienced signs of anxiety such as clenched fists and even seizures
• external validity = Hofling et al - natural experiment - ‘everyday’ individuals are still susceptible

Question 10

what are some weaknesses of milgram’s study

Answer 10

• ethical issues = deception and so informed consent couldn’t be obtained, psychological harm shown through sweating and trembling
• socially sensitive = suggests that those who are responsible for killing innocent people can be excused because of the situation
• lack of internal validity = may be more about trust than obedience as Ps may have trusted that because it was at Stanford university that nothing bad would happen
• lack of ecological validity = tasks aren’t representative of everyday life meaning it lacks mundane realism