Social Influence- Milgram (obediance) Flashcards
What are the two explanations of obedience?
-Situational attribution
-Dispositional attribution
Define situational attribution
-Inferring that a persons behaviour is caused by something about the situation they are in
Define dispositional attribution
-Inferring that the reason for a persons behaviour is something about themselves such as their personality
What was the aim of mailgrams study?
-To find out whether ordinary Americans would obey unjust orders from a person of authority to inflict pain on another person
How was the study advertised?
-In a local newspaper
-Paid $4.50
-A study about how punishment affects learning
How many volunteers was there and where were they from?
-40
-A range of backgrounds
How were the learners selected?
-Through a rigged draw so it would be the confederates
What was the procedure
-Teacher was required to administer electric shocks after every wrong answer
-Teacher was given a mild shock before hand to prove that the machine was real
-Started at 15 volts and went up 15 every time, max was 450
What was heard up to 300 volts?
-Screams but they stopped at 300 volts
What were the results?
-100% delivered shocks up until 300
-65% delivered shocks up until 450
-Much higher than they expected
What was the conclusion of this study?
-People obey instructions from authoritive figures even if it harms another participant
What happened if the teacher asked to stop?
-Prompted to carry on
- “this experiment requires you to continue”
-“you have no other choice you must continue
Why were the controls kept the same for every participant?
-So there were few exrentaneous variables
What were the consequences of this study?
-Suffered extreme nervous tension- nervous laughing
-Physically sweating
-Continually asking for reassurance from experimenter
-One participant had an epileptic fit
How were the participants debriefed after the experiment?
-Told their behaviour was normal
-Told the nature of the experiment
-Followed up a year later to ensure there was no lasting psychological problems
Give 3 strengths of this study
-Reliable- standardised procedure
-Helps to explain real life situations
-study identified important factors that affect a persons obedience of legitimacy of authority
Give 3 weaknesses of this study
-Lacks temporal validity
-Lacks internal validity
-Breaks ethical guidelines
Why were there variations of the original experiment?
-To see which factors increased/ decrease obedience
Which factors increase obedience?
-Legitimacy of authority
-Social isolation
-Proximity to victim
-Gradual commitment
-Deferred responsibility
Why is the study being unethical a limitation?
P- Broke ethical guidelines set out in 1953
E-Deceived- told them they were investigating the effect of punishment and learning when he was measuring obedediance and lied about the electric shocks
-Right to withdraw- very difficult, prompted to carry on
Harm-Very stressed+ anxious
L- An issue because the volunteers felt guilt about possibly harming another participant
Counter: Essential to deceive and remove the right of withdrawal from the participants to get valid results
Why is ecological validity a weakness of this study?
P-Lacks ecological validity
E-tested obedience in a lab, very different to real life situations
E-People are normally asked to follow subtle instructions not administer electric shocks
L-Cannot generalise findings to real life situations, people may obey less severe instructions differently
Why is low population validity a limitation?
P-Lacks population validity
E-Bias sample of 40 men- underepresentitve
E-cannot generalise to the whole population particularly females
L-Cannot conclude that females would respond in the same way
Counter: Did include men from various different backgrounds so some cultural diversity
How is research support a strength of this study?
P- Beauvoir et al 2012
E- A French documentary focused on a game sow, participants were paid to give electric shocks ordered by the presenter to other participants in front of a studio audience- Fake shock and actor
E-80% of the participants delivered the max shock (460) to an unconscious man
L-Participants were visibly anxious, supports mailgrams original findings of obeying authorities
What were the 6 variations of Milgram’s study?
-Someone lese administered the shock
-The experiment took place in a rundown office building
-The teacher and learner were in the same room
-The teacher had to force the learners hand onto the shock plate
-The experimenter gave instructions to the teacher over the phone
-Participants worked in groups to shock the learner (two rebelled and refused to go on
What were the percentages of the participants who administered 450 volts in each of the variations?
-Someone lese administered the shock- 92.5%
-The experiment took place in a rundown office building- 48%
-The teacher and learner were in the same room- 40%
-The teacher had to force the learners hand onto the shock plate- 30%
-The experimenter gave instructions to the teacher over the phone-20%
-Participants worked in groups to shock the learner (two rebelled and refused to go on- 10%
What was the method of Hoflings (1966) study?
-22 real nurses+ Dr. Smith ( the researcher) phoned the hospital asking the nurses to administer a drug they had never heard of (it was a placebo)- Astron
-Max dose was 10mg but they were asked to give 20mg
-Dr.smith said he would sign the authorisation form when he got there
What were the results of Hoflings (1966) study?
-21/22 nurses started to give the drug until they were stopped by another nurse
-When interviewed after they all said that they were asked to go against training rules by doctors regularly
Outline Bickman’s study (1974)
-Dressed up in uniforms of a civilian, milkman and a guard
-Asked random members of the public to carry out instructions such as dropping litter on the floor
What are the factors affecting obedience
-Agentic state
-Legitimacy of authority
-Uniform
-Location
-Proximity
What is Agentic state ?
-Where we can deny personal responsibility for our actions as we have been ordered to behave this way
-or we can shift the responsibility onto the person who told us to do it
How does agentic state link to the variations, Hofling or milligrams variations?
-Hofling- can blame Dr. Smith as he was the one who ordered us to administer the drug
-Milgram variation- someone else administered the electric shock, 92.5% of the participants went up to 450v
What is the Legitimacy of authority?
-An authority figure must have some kind of social power over us which is usually the power to punish
-We have to perceive the person as genuine to follow their instructions
How does the legitimacy of authority link to the variations?
-Hofling (1966)
-The doctor had legitimate authority over the nurses so they did not want to face the consequences if they did not administer the drug
How does uniform affect obedience?
-Research suggests that we are more likely to obey a person in uniform, in comparison to a person not wearing a uniform
How does uniform link to the variations?
-Bickman (1974)
-People are more likely to obey the guard in comparison to a civillian as the uniform gives the guard legitimate authority
How does location affect obedience?
-The legitimacy of the location affects obedience
-We have to believe the setting is genuine for an order to take place
How does location link to the variations?
-Milgram variation- run-down office
-Only 48% of the participants administered the full 450v shock
How does proximity affect obedience?
-The closer we are to the consequences of our actions, the less likely we are to obey as we can see the potential harm of our behaviour
How does proximity link to the variations?
-Milgram variation-teacher had to force learners’ hand onto the shock plate
-ONly 30% administered the full 450v shock
