Social Influence Flashcards
4 explanations for obedience
Agentic shift
Gradual commitment
Buffers
Legitimate authority
Explain agentic shift
Agentic shift is when an individual is in the autonomous state where they are responsible for their own actions and then they move into a agentic state where they pass the responsibility to the authority figure.
Explain Gradual commitment
Getting an individual to pursue a small task and then slowly increase it to a bigger task
Explain buffers
Anything that acts as a psychological or physical barrier causing the individual not to see or understand the consequences of their actions
Explain legitimate authority
When an individual obeys an authority figure without question
Example of legitimate authority
Doctors
Police
Example of gradual commitment
Voltage buttons in milgrams study
Example of buffers
The wall in milgrams study
Example of agentic shift
Hoflings study nurses believed the responsibility lay with the doctor that called
Examples of Ethical issues
Informed Consent Deception Right to withdraw at any time Protection from harm Debriefing
Ethical issues in Milgram’s study
Lack of informed consent as deceived about purpose of study but was necessary in order to carry out study.
Protection from harm- Long/short term psychological harm
Ways Milgrams experiment was well controlled
Same Learner
Same verbal prods
Criticism on Milgrams experimental validity
They claimed participants were not giving genuine reactions and playing along by giving a shock because participants didnt believe the study was real and they were actually shocking the leaner. Didn’t resemble a real life situation
A strength of the laboratory experiment used by Milgram is that
it has high internal validity;
he controlled the extraneous variables as he used the same learner and same verbal prods.
One weakness of the laboratory experiment used by Milgram is that
it lacks experimental validity. Research took place at Yale uni in a lab and participants may not have believed the experimental set up was real. Validity of results reduced
What did milgrams experiment lack
experimental validity and ecological validity
A strength of Milgrams study
high internal validity
How could mil gram overcome this limitation of his experiemnt
field experiment (natural environment)
What experiment did Hofling carry out
Obedient nurses
Who conducted the experiment involving obedience and nurses
Hofling
Was Hoflings experiment ecologically valid
Yes, reflected real life situations (nurse in hospital, doctors orders)
Describe Hoflings experiment
Nurse working night shift in hospital gets a call from a doctor asking her to administrate a large dose of a made up drug (astrofen) to a patient on the ward.
Results of Hoflings study
21/22 nurses followed orders
11 nurses didnt realise they were giving a overdose
What was the situational explanation for independent behaviour?
Presence of an independently behaving peer
