social influence milgram's experiment (evaluation of milgram's variation)

Question 1

what does it mean when we say that Milgram’s variations had research support

Answer 1

Other studies have demonstrated the influence of these situational variables on obedience. In a field experiment in New York City, Bickman (1974) had three confederates outfits - jacket and tie, a milkman’s outfit, and a security guard’s uniform.

PROCEDURE:
The confederates stood in the street and asked passerby to perform tasks such as picking up litter or giving the confederates a coin for the parking meter

RESULTS:
People were twice as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a security guard than that dressed in jacket and tie. This supports Milgram’s conclusion that a uniform conveys the authority of its wearer and is a situational factor likely to procuduce authority

Question 2

what does it mean when we say Milgram’s variation lacked internal validity

Answer 2

Orne and Holland criticized Milgram’s original study was faked.
It is more likely that participants in Milgram’s variations realised this because of the extra manipulation e.g. in the variation where the experiment is replaced by a member of public. Milgram even recognised that this situation was so contrived that some participants may well have worked out the truth.

This is a limitation of all Milgram’s studies because it is unclear whether the results are genuinely due to the operation of obedience or because the participants saw through the deception and acted accordingly

Question 3

what does it mean when we say Milgram’s experiment had cross-cultural replication

Answer 3

One strength of Milgram’s research that applies to his variations is that his findings have been replicated in other cultures e.g. Miranada et al (1981) found an obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students. This suggests that Milgram’s conclusions about obedience are not limited to American males, but are valid across cultures and
apply to females too.

However Smith and Bond (1998) make crucial point that most replications have taken place in Western, developed societies which are’nt culturally different from the USA, so it would be premature to say that Milgram’s findings about proximity, location and uniform apply to people everywhere

Question 4

what does it mean when we say Milgram had control of the variables

Answer 4

Another strength of Milgram’s variations is that he systematically altered one variable at a time to see what effects it would have on the level of obedience.

All other procedures and variables were kept the same as the study was replicated over and over again with more than 1,000 participants

Question 5

what is the “obedience alibi”

Answer 5

Milgram’s findings from his variations supports a situational explaination of obedience e.g. proximity, uniform, location

This perspective has been criticised by David Mandel (1998) who argues that it follows an excuse or “alibi” for the evil behavior.

In his view, it is offensive to survivors of the Holocaust to suggest that the Nazis were simply obeying orders and were victims themselves of situational factors beyond their control