Social Influence- obedience Flashcards
What is the definition of obedience
Obedience is the following of orders from someone of higher authority. When we obey an order, we do as we are told.
What is destructive obedience
When we are ordered to do something immoral we tend to obey, even if this causes us distress and we regret it later.
What is the ‘Germans are different’ hypothesis
States that German’s have a basic character deficit which means they have a readiness to obey people in authority regardless of the act they are being asked to carry out.
What hypothesis did Milgram want to test
The ‘Germans are different’ hypothesis
What was Milgram’s aim
To see if people would obey the orders of an authority figure, even when there were fatal consequences.
What did the participants think the aim of the study was
To investigate the effects of punishment on memory.
Who was Milgram’s sample
40 American men with a range of educational and occupational backgrounds
How did Milgram acquire his sample
Volunteer sample
What happened to the volunteers when they arrived
They were introduced to another participant (actually confederate): Mr. Neill Wallace. He chatted with the ppt beforehand and said he had been out of work for a while due to having a heart attack 6 months ago.
How were the roles of teacher or learner decided
Drew lots to see who would be the ‘teacher’ (T) and who would be the ‘learner’ (L) - this was fixed so the ppt was always the T and Mr. Wallace was always the L.
Who played the role of ‘experimenter’
A confederate
Could the teacher see the learner
No
The teacher thought the learner could hear them but it was actually what
A recording
When did the teacher have to give the learner an electric shock
Every time the learner made a mistake on a memory task.
How much did the voltage increase by with each mistake
15V
What did the voltage go op to
450V
If the teacher was to express concern for the learner, the experimenter had how many prods
4
What were the 4 prods
Prod 1: Please continue.
Prod 2: The experiment requires you to continue.
Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue.
Prod 4: You have no other choice but to continue.
Every participant delivered shocks up to ___V
300
__% continued to the highest level of ___V
65
450
__._% stopped after ___V
12.5
300
Evaluating Milgram’s study
-Generalisability
Milgram’s study cannot be generalised to the target population because his sample was 40 American men (androcentric).
Trying to generalise would lead to a beta bias.
This means the study is limited with how much it can actually explain obedience
Evaluating Milgram’s study
-Reliability
Can be replicated due to lab environment and standardised procedures.
For example: sample was 40 men; they were given the same 4 prods; the sample was volunteer.
This enables findings for the study to be questioned and the study to be checked for consistency.
Evaluating Milgram’s study
-Validity
Low ecological validity
Took place in an artificial environment so how far can findings really be generalised.
Also Orne and Holland argue that the study is not a test of obedience because the pts did not really believ they were shocking people, the were just going along with the study (demand characteristics).
May not be possible to generalise Milgram’s research universally.
Evaluating Milgram’s study
-Ethics
Pts were not protected from harm as they suffered psych stress
But pts were fully debriefed
This shows that although Milgram did break ethical guidelines set out by the APA , these were essential due to the nature of studying obedience as if fully informed consent was given, true obedience would not have been tested.
What three explanations are there for obedience
Agentic state
Legitimacy of authority
Authoritarian personality
What is agentic state
The individual gives up their free will and no longer sees themselves as acting independently, but merely as an ‘agent’ implementing someone else’s decisions.
The individual gives up their ____ ____and no longer sees themselves as acting independently, but merely as an ‘_____’ implementing someone else’s decisions.
Free will
Agent
What is an autonomous state
You decide on, direct, and take responsibility for your own actions.
What is moral strain
Feeling uncomfortable / distressed as a consequence of going against your own conscience and doing something you know to be wrong, when in the agentic state
What evidence is there that pts in Milgram’s study experienced moral strain
They were sweating, trembling, showing extreme tension, biting their lips and 3 even had a seizure
How many pts had a seizure in Milgram’s study
Three
What are the two ways people cope with moral strain
Denial
Repression
What is repression
A type of psychological defense mechanism that involves keeping certain thoughts, feelings, or urges out of conscious awareness.
What is denial
As seen by many former Nazi soldiers who simply denied the holocaust ever occurred.
Why do we obey people with legitimate authority
We trust them (or because they have the power to punish us
Who are we socialised into obeying from early childhood
Those who have authority over us
Milgram shows support for legitimacy of authority
moving the study from the prestigious Yale University to a run down office block lowered obedience levels from __% to __%.
65
47.5
Also, whether we see authority figures as distinct and of a higher social standing promotes legitimacy of authority - through UNIFORMS.Bickmans (1974) NY field research.
Actor asked people to pick up litter dressed as either a:
Security guard → __% picked up litter
Pedestrian → __% picked up litter
76
30
Evaluation of exp (agentic state) of obedience
- Research
A strength of the Agentic State explanation for why people OBEY is that there is research to support the explanation.
Milgram found… 65% of participants obeyed the authority figure and delivered a fatal electric shock. Many were visibly uncomfortable whilst doing so (e.g., sweating and trembling), three even had seizures, inferring they were under moral strain and hence, in the Agentic State.
This implies that there is research to support that people obey as they are in an agentic state rather than an autonomous state.
Evaluating expl of obedience (legit authority)
- Research
A strength of the Legitimacy of Authority explanation for why people OBEY is that there is research to support the explanation.
Milgram found… a significant decline in the levels of obedience when he removed the legitimacy of the authority, when the experimenter wore normal clothes instead of a uniform obedience dropped to 20%.
This suggests that there is research to support that if an authority figure is perceived to be legitimate, then people are more like to obey.
Evaluating expl for obedince
- Alt explanations
However, the SITUATIONAL explanation is limited to some extent as there are alternative explanations for obedience behaviour.
For example, the dispositional explanation of the authoritarian personality could be considered a better explanation for why people obey because it takes into account upbringing, personality dimensions as well being as being much easier to measure (i.e. using the F scale).
This suggests that… the situational accounts do not fully explain all cases of obedience.
Evaluating expl for obedience (agentic state)
- Obedience alibi
One theoretical problem with the agentic state and legitimacy of authority explanations is that it leads to the ‘obedience alibi’.
There is some argument that by explaining the reasons for Nazi behaviour we are giving them an excuse for the atrocities that occurred in the holocaust and stops war criminals facing up to what they have done.
This suggests that… the situational accounts of obedience can be seen as socially sensitive when applied to the real world.
Evaluating expl for obedince
- Practical applications
One strength is the practical applications of this explanation.
Just being aware that we are capable of obeying in this way could help us explain (and prevent) horrific actions such as Nazi German, My Lai massacre or Abu Ghraib). Presumably, individuals slipped into the agentic state due to the presence of legitimate authority figures and lost all awareness of what they were doing.
This means that the explanation has been useful to society because… it helps us explain historic events of destructive obedience.
What is authoritarianism
Personality disorder where the individual has the tendency to be rigid, dogmatic, absolute to beliefs, resistant to novelty and changes , obedient to authority, submissive to the people who regards superior than him and cynical against the out-group members who regards as inferior in comparison with his group members.
Adorno saw these individuals as having insecurities that led them to be hostile to …….
Non-conventional people
Adorno said those with an authoritarian personality had a belief in ….
A need for power and toughness which leads them to be highly obedient to authority figures.
What two conditions form an authoritarian personality
Person is raised by strict and distant and cold parents who…
punished constantly for minor reasons
&
Have rigid and absolute ideologies and values about society,
An individual learns from the early childhood to ____ the people who have more _____ and privileges than them and they will continue this _______ attitude as an ____.
obey
power
obedient
adult
What characteristics do people with an authoritarian personality embody
Respect of authority figures and a submissive attitude towards authority figures;
Rigid Beliefs in Conventional Values (tunnel vision);
General Hostility towards other groups (often towards minority groups) and racial in-group favouritism;
Intolerance of ambiguity.
Evaluating authoritarian personality
- Research
A strength of the authoritarian personality explanation for why people conform is that there is research to support the explanation.
Elms and Milgram found… (1974) that individuals who scored highly on the F Scale gave stronger shocks when ordered to do so by authority figures compared to individuals with low scores.
This implies that … PERSONALITY certainly does play a part in determining obedience in society.
Evaluating authoritarian personality
- Alternative expl
However, the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience is limited to some extent as there are alternative explanations for obedience behaviour.
For example, the situational explanation of the agentic state could be considered a better explanation for why people obey because it takes into account situational variables, that can make the same person obedient in one situation and not another.
This means suggests that… the authoritarian account of obedience cannot explain all cases of obedience.
Evaluating authoritarian personality
- Theoretical probs
One problem with the theory of the authoritarian personality explanation is that there may be a problem with cause and effect.
Middendrop and Meleon found less-educated people are consistently more authoritarian and more obedient.
This suggests that instead of the authoritarian personality causing obedience, a lack of education could be responsible for both authoritarianism and obedience.
Evaluating authoritarian personality
- Practical applications
One strength is the practical applications of this explanation.
For example… historically people have been seen to be more obedient and they have also had stricter parenting in previous era’s. This has been seen around the globe, but particularly in Germany, UK / USA / China, suggesting more people were authoritarian in times gone by (perhaps excluding China?)
This means that the explanation has been useful to society because… it can help explain differing levels of obedience in different eras and cultures.
How is obedience different from conformity
Obedience involve a direct request to change behaviour, obedience is far more explicit
Obedience involve people of a different social standing. Those with authority vs those without. Whereas conformity often involves people of a similar social standing.
How many obeyed when
Loss of uniform
20%
How many obeyed when
Close proximity
40%
How many obeyed when
Touch proximity
30%
How many conformed when
Orders over phone
21%
How many conformed when
Social support off disobedient role model
Went to 450V
15%
How many variations did Milgram use and what were they
4
- Loss of uniform
- Location
- Proximity
- Remote authority
What happened in the loss of uniform variation
The experimenter appeared to be an ordinary member of society (a confederate) without wearing
the white coat.
Actual level of obedience: 20%
Why was obedience effected when experimenter looked like an ordinary person
Uniform encourages obedience as it is recognised as a symbol of authority
What happened in the location variable
Experimenter moved from prestigious yale uni to a rundown office block in nearby bridge port
Actual level of obedience: 47.5%
Why did location effect obedience
Yale is very respectable so pts would’ve taken the experiment seriously
What happened in the proximity variation
1- Learner moved into the same room as teacher
Actual level of obedience: 40%
2- Teacher instructed to hold learners hand on shock plate
Actual level of obedience: 30%
Why was obedience effected by proximity
In same room pts could see consequences of their actions so feel a strain on their actions- feel more responsible
Touch proximity- even more responsible as instructed to hold hand on shock plate even when learner moved away
What happened in the remote authority variation
Experimenter left room and gave instructions over the phone
Actual level of obedience: 20.5%
why did absent authority effect obedience
authority need to be immediate, individual has more flexibility to get out of agentic state and be in a more autonomous state.
How many obeyed when
Location changed to rundown office block
47.5%
Why did the change in location effect obedience
Because they did not feel that they were in a ‘legitimate’ location.
Yale is a very prestigious environment which leads to the conclusion that the actions there must be legitimate
What are the ‘stages’ of legitimacy of authority
socialisation
social hierarchy
symbols of authority
