social factors affecting obedience Flashcards
Social factors affecting obedience
Authority
culture
proximity
Legitimate authority
This is an explanation of obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey someone we perceive to have authority over us.
Explanation to legitimate authority
We grow up learning to obey authority figures such as teachers, parents, and other people who have justified authority over us. This is because we trust their expertise
or because they can punish us.
Supporting evidence - legitimate authority
Milgram did his experiment again, the two conditions were people wearing authoritative clothes such as a lab coat and the other was just normal everyday clothes. Obedience rates for the person wearing the lab coat were 65% and in the condition where the experimenter was wearing normal clothes, it dropped to 20%.
Culture - supporting evidence
Kilman and Mann did an experiment and found obedience rates were higher in Germany and lower in Australia. furthermore, it is more likely obedience rates will be higher in countries such as India and China as they are collectivist cultures and look more at group value and respecting authority, whereas western countries are more individualistic and will look out more for themselves. This suggests culture affects how we respond to an authority figure and therefore obedience rates.
Proximity - supporting evidence
Milgram repeated the study by changing the variables. In one condition if the ‘learner’ refused to answer a question the ‘teacher’ was told to force their hand onto an electric shock plate. This is called touch proximity. In this condition obedience rates were 30%. In the next condition the ‘teacher’ asked questions through the telephone (remote proximity) and the obedience rates dropped to 20.5%.
explanation of proximity
Obedience is affected by how close the authority figure is to the person doing the order. It is easy to follow instructions when we are distanced from the consequences of our actions.
