Social Flashcards
Obedience definition
A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order.
Moral strain definition
A state of mental discomfort or anxiety experienced in the agentic state when an individual’s actions conflict with their morality
Autonomous state
A mindset where we behave independently, make our own decisions and take responsibility for the consequences of our behaviour
Agentic state
A mindset which allows us to carry out orders from authority figures, even if they conflict with our morality. We absolve ourselves of responsibility, believing that we are acting on the behalf of others
Agentic shift
The switch between autonomous and agentic states
Agency theory
Milgram (1974)
Humans mainly operate in two states autonomous and agentic. Usually autonomous but can switch between
Agency theory - Strengths
Milgram’s baseline study (1963)
Military application - Soldiers following orders even though they may conflict with their morality, euphemisms and dehumanising language
Agency theory - Weaknesses
Baseline study has low internal validity, Perry (2012). Reinterpretation of Milgram’s data, finding that participants may have thought that the shocks were not real.
Social Impact Theory
Latane (1961)
An explanation of obedience in terms of Strength, Immediacy and Number
Social Impact Theory - Strength
The perceived authority of the source
Social Impact Theory - Immediacy
The closeness of the source and target
Social Impact theory - Number
The number of sources or targets present during the interaction
Multiplicative effect
Increasing the Strength, Immediacy or number of sources would significantly increase the obedience
Divisional effect
If there is a larger number of targets than sources than the obedience would decrease
Law of diminishing returns
Once the source group is larger than three, each additional person has less of an influence on the obedience
Social Impact theory - Strengths
Sedikides and Jackson (1990)
Application to political influence
Sedikides and Jackson
Field study at a zoo
Strength - zookeeper 58%, t-shirt and shorts 35%
Immediacy - in same room 61%, in adjacent room 7%
Number - smaller group 60%, larger group 14%
Social Impact Theory - Weaknesses
Sedikides and Jackson - field study, low internal validity
Immediacy less important than strength - Hofling et al (1966)
Hofling et al (1966)
Arranged for an unknown doctor to telephone 22 nurses and ask them to administer an overdose of a drug no on their list. Found that they obeyed even though the doctor was not immediately present.
Milgram’s baseline study (1963) - Aim
To understand the behaviour of the Nazis involved in the genocide of Jewish people, reasons people would obey a legitimate authority.
Milgram’s baseline study (1963) - Procedure
Sample - 40 men aged 20-50, volunteer through newspaper adverts, $4.50 for participating
On arrival participants were given the right to withdraw. Introduced to the experimenter and another participant, both confederates.
Fixed lots were drawn to decide that the confederate was the learner.
Teacher told to give learner a shock for every wrong answer on a word recall task, rising by 15V from 15 to 450.
The shocks were fake but a real test shock of 45V was administered to the teacher
If the teacher protested they were given a standardised series of prods to continue, after the fourth they were allowed to leave, the study was recorded
Milgram’s baseline study - Findings
65% of sample administered full 450 V shock
100% went to 300V
Participants were observed to tremble, bite their lips.
Milgram’s baseline study - Conclusion
Ordinary Americans are surprisingly obedient to to legitimate authority
Milgram suggested that a number of factors may explain the obedience such as the perceived competence of the researcher
Milgram’s baseline study - Strengths
Standardised procedure - filmed
Confederates were always played by the same people, number and timing of learners mistakes were the same
High reliability
Milgram’s baseline study - Weaknesses
Gina Perry (2012) - internal validity
Halsam et al (2014) showed that participants only continued after the first three prods, everyone that heard the fourth disobeyed, challenges the view that they are highly and blindly obedient to authority.
Low generalisability
Low ecological validity
Deception
Milgram experiment 10
Rundown office block
47.5% fully obedient
Building may decrease the perceived competency of the experimenter
Milgram experiment 7
Telephonic instructions
22.5% fully obedient, participants lied to say that there were raising the shock level when they were not
Physical presence of an authority figure appears to be an important situational factor that increases obedience
Milgram experiment 13
Ordinary man gives orders
Experimenter would start before having to leave and handing control to a confederate participant.
80% refused to continue after the ordinary man started giving orders
Factors affecting obedience - Personality factors
Authoritarian personality
Internal and external loci of control
Authoritarian personality
Adorno et al (1950) developed the F scale, high score= authoritarian personality.
Tend to be hostile towards those with an inferior status but obedient to those with a higher status
Could be due to strict parenting
Internal and external loci of control
Rotter et al. Refers to a persons perception of their personal control of behaviour. External - things happen to you, internal - you make things happen
High internal suggests independence, whereas external suggests obedience.
Factors affecting obedience - Personality factors - Strengths
Elms and Milgram (1966) used F-scale to test 20 fully obedient and 20 not from Milgram’s baseline study
Obedient participants score higher on the F-scale and showed more characteristics of an authoritarian personality
Factors affecting obedience - Personality - Weaknesses
Internal locus of control does not predict defiance
Factors affecting obedience - Gender
Women more obedient than men - Sheridan and King
Men more obedient than women - Kilham and Mann
Moral reasoning - Gilligan
Sheridan and King (1972)
Participants asked to give real shocks to a live puppy
Women 100% obedient compared to 54% males
Kilham and Mann (1974)
Replication of Milgram’s baseline study in Australia
40% males obedient, 16% of females
Moral reasoning - Gilligan (1982)
Suggested that moral decision making is guided by different principles in men and women
Justice in men, fairness and equality, detached outlook to avoid bias.
Care in women.
Destructive obedience men would be more likely to obey.
Factors affecting obedience - Gender - Weakness
There may be no difference, many studies including Blass (1999) show no difference
Factors affecting obedience - Situation
Legitimacy
Proximity
Behaviour of others
Factors affecting obedience - situation - legitimacy
Reducing the perceived legitimacy of the authority figure can reduce obedience. In Milgram (variation 13) a normal person took over when the experimenter had to leave due to a phone call, this led to decreased obedience.
Factors affecting obedience - situation - proximity
Increasing the distance between the authority figure and the participant decreases obedience.
Factors affecting obedience - situation - behaviour of others
Exposure to disobedient role models decreases obedience. Milgram (variation 17) showed that when two other confederate teachers refused to carry on obedience dropped to 10%.
Factors affecting obedience - situation - strength
Meeus and Raaijmakers (1995)
Application to rule breaking - Gramann et al (1995)
Meeus and Raaijmakers (1995)
Asked participants to deliver increasingly unkind insults to a confederate applying for a job. More than 90% delivered all 15 insults in the baseline, compared to 36% when the experimenter left the room and 16% when they witnessed rebellious confederates.