SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Milgram's Study - Situational Variables Flashcards
Situational factors that affected obedience: Proximity
- Refers to the physical closeness/distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to
- Proximity between the teacher & learner was varied to test its effect on obedience
OG STUDY: T & L in adjoining rooms
VARIATION: T & L in same room
Changing variables in Milgram’s study: location
- refers to the place where an order is issued.
- The relevant factor that influences obedience is the status or prestige associated w the location.
OG STUDY: a prestigious Yale uni setting
VARIATION: run-down office down town (obedience dropped to 48%)
Changing variables in Milgram’s study: uniform
- ppl in positions of authority often have a specific outfit, symbolic of their role of authority
- this indicates to the rest of us who is entitled to expect our obedience
OG STUDY: experimenters wore a lab coat
VARIATION: role of experimenter carried out by ordinary member of public (obedience dropped to 20%)
How has the ecological validity of Milgram’s study tested?
- Bickman (1974) tested the ecological validity of Milgram’s work by conducting an experiment in a more realistic setting
What was Bickman’s experiment
- In this study, 3 male researchers gave direct requests to 153 randomly selected pedestrians in Brooklyn, NY. Researchers dressed as either, police officer, milkman’s uniform, civilian clothing
The researchers gave pedestrians 1 of following 3 instructions: - to pick up a large bag on the ground for them
- (pointing to another confederate sitting by car) ordering them to give a dime to this random man who doesn’t have change, over-parked at the meter
- to stand on the other side of this pole (to pedestrians at a bus stop)
What did Bickman find
Bickman observed that 80% of participants obeyed the researcher who was dressed to look like a police officer, WHEREAS 40% of those approached by researcher wearing civilian clothing or milkman’s uniform obeyed the request
- These findings therefore provide further ev that obedience is influenced by the amount of authority a person is perceived to have. Uniform plays an integral role in this
What did Bushman (1988) to support effect of uniform on obedience
- Bushman (1988) carried out a study where a female researcher, dressed as either, police, business executive or beggar, stopped ppl in street & told them to give change to a male researcher for an expired parking meter
- When she was in uniform, 72% of ppl obeyed, whereas obedience rates where much lower when dressed as business executive (48%) or as beggar (52%)
- When interviewed after, pppl claimed they obeyed the woman in uniform bc she appeared to have authority
Why is control of variables important in experiments
Controlling variables means that it is possible for other researchers to replicate the study in the exact same way. This is important in science to make sure that findings are not just one-off chance events
What did replication of Milgram’s og study & his variations find
Both M’s og study & his variations have been replicated in other cultures & have found similar results.
- 90% of Spanish students obeyed in a Spanish variation of the study - suggests M’s findings are not limited to American males
- M’s findings are also valid across all cultures & both genders
This suggests a robust phenomenon is being studied. However, most replications have been carried out in western societies
Why has Milgram’s study been criticised for lack of internal validity
- As it suggested that participants guessed that the shocks were not real & therefore their ‘real’ behaviour was not being measured
- it is even more likely that the participants in the variations realised that this was not a real study & they were being manipulated. Therefore their behaviour may simply have been demand characteristics
Milgram’s study offers an obedience alibi & doesn’t explain real-life atrocities
What is the obedience alibi (explained in Nazi terms)
- Some ppl consider a situational perspective on the Holocaust offensive bc it removes personal responsibility from the perpetrators
- To suggest that Nazi executioners of Jews were ‘only doing their duty by obeying orders’ implies that they were also the victims of situational pressures, & that anyone faced w a similar situation would’ve behaved in the same way. - It ruins the risk of trivialising genocide
Situational factors that affected obedience: Presence of allies
When there were 3 teachers (1 participant & 2 confederates), the real participants was less likely to obey if the other 2 refused to obey.
Having allied can make it easier to resist orders
Results of testing the effect of proximity of the victim
In Milgram’s study, 65% gave the max shock. This dropped to 40% w the learner in the same room, and 30% when the participant had to put the learner’s hand onto the shock plate (touch proximity)
Proximity made the learner’s suffering harder to ignore
Results of testing the effect of proximity of the authority
When the authority figure gave prompts by phone from another room (remote proximity), obedience rates dropped to 23%. When the authority figure wasn’t close by, orders were easier to resist
