social influence - obedience Flashcards
what is obedience
a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order - the person issuing the order is usually a figure of authority who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour isnt forthcoming
what did milgram want to study
why german people followed hitlers orders after the holocaust
what was the procedure of milgrams study
40 male volunteers who responded to a news paper ad on a study on memory were introduced to a confederate. The selection of student and teacher was rigged so the participant was always the teacher. Another confederate dressed in a lab coat was known as the experimenter who took the learner into a separate room, strapped them in a chair and applied electrodes to them. the participant was told to deliver electric shocks to the learner every time they got a question wrong. the shocks were increased by 15 volts each time going all the way up to 450 volts. at 300 volts the learner made a noise and refused to go on but at 315 volts they didnt make a noise indicating unconsciousness or death. if the participant resisted the experimenter would encourage them to carry on with phrases such as you have no other choice
what were the results of milgrams study
all participants continued to 300 volts , 12.5% stopped at 300 volts and 65% went all the way to 450 volts
what is the conclusion of milgrams study
this study demonstrates that obedience can be evoked in people purely by a situation. if a person is at the bottom of a social hierarchy they tend to lose feelings of compassion and inclined towards obedience to those high up
what is the supporting research of hofling
he demonstrated that 21/22 nurses in a real hospital ward would obey orders over the phone from a ‘dr smith’ to give 20mg of an unfamiliar drug at twice the daily maximum
what is a strength of hoflings supporting research
this study was conducted in a real world setting so it could be claimed to have high mundane realism as the task was familiar and high ecological validity as the location was normal
what are the strengths of milgrams study
- has good external validity because it reveals the importance of relationships between authority figures and participants ( supported by hofling )
- supporting replication: burger found the levels of obedience were almost identical to milgrams findings 46 years later
what are the weaknesses of milgrams study
- considered unethical as he did not tell potential participants what exactly was going to happen in the experiment and intentionally deceived participants about the purpose of the experiment
- low internal validity: participants may have guessed the shocks were not real so therefore the study suffers demand characteristics
what are the situational variables of milgrams study
- proximity
- location
- uniform
how is proximity a variation in milgrams study
- in the original study the teacher and learner were in adjoining rooms where obedience rate was 65%
- when the teacher and learner were in the same room obedience dropped to 40%
- when touch proximity was required so the teacher had to force the learners hand onto a shock plate, obedience dropped to 30%
- when experimenter left the room and gave instructions to teacher over the phone obedience dropped to 20.5% and pretended to give shocks or give weaker shocks then what were ordered
how is location a variation in milgrams study
- at yale university obedience was 65%
- when location changed to a run down office block obedience dropped to 47.5%
how is uniform a variation in milgrams study
- in orginal study the experimenter wore a lab coat and obedience was 65%
- when the role of the experimenter was carried out by a normal member of the public obedience dropped to 20%
what are the strengths of milgrams variations
- good control of variables and it is possible for other researchers to replicate the study in the exact same way
- hickman: showed the ecological validity of milgrams work by conducting an experiment in a more realistic setting but with guards uniform, milkmans uniform and a civilian. he observed that 80% of participants obeyed the guard and 40% obeyed the milkman and civilian
- bushman: carried out a study where female researcher dressed in a police uniform, business executive or beggar stopped people in the street to pay for an expired parking meter. in the police uniform 72% obeyed, as a business executive 48% obeyed and as a beggar 52% obeyed
what are the weaknesses of milgrams variations
- lack of internal validity: participants in the variations realised it was not a real study so it suffers demand characteristics
- most replications are carried out in western societies
what did adorno claim
that a particular personality type is more likely to obey to authority
what was the procedure of adornos study
- he investigated the causes of obedient personality in a study of 2000 middle class white americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups
- he developed the F scale to measure the relationship between a persons personality type and prejudiced beliefs
what were adornos findings
- high scores on the F scale identified with strong people who were contemptuous of the weak
- people who scored highly on the scale had a particular cognitive style: fixed distinctive stereotypes about other groups and a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
what is the authoritarian personality
a distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and beliefs in absolute obedience or submission to authority
what did the f scale provide an explanation for
a possible explanation as to why some people require little pressure in order to obey
what are the characteristics of the authoritarian personality
- rigid beliefs in conventional values
- general hostility towards other groups
- intolerant to ambiguity
- submissive attitudes towards authority figures
what is the origin of the authoritarian personality
it is based on sigmund freuds ideas that the adult personality is determined by childhood characteristics:
- disciplined upbringing such as harsh parents who showed little affection and issued severe punishments
- unconscious hostility meaning they have high opinions of their parents but unconsciously feel very aggressive towards them
- displacement meaning hostility is displaced onto safer targets, particularly weaker people
- prejudice results in discriminatory behaviour
what are the strengths of authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience
- milgram and his assistant elms conducted a follow up study using participants who took part in milgrams original study, those who were fully obedient up to 450 volts scored higher on the F scale and lower on scales of social responsibility than those who defied
what are the weaknesses of authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience
- social identity theory suggests people identify themselves as belonging to a particular group, favouring their own group to others which they do not belong
- the interviews were vulnerable to interview bias as the interviewers knew the hypothesis of the study and therefore were aware of the information needed to confirm it
- explanations of obedience in terms of individual personality will find it hard to explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a countries population
- results cannot be generalised as all participants were male and american
- does not explain why some people are prejudice towards some groups and not others
what is the agentic state
when someone believes that they are not responsible for their wrong doings as they are acting as an agent for a higher figure of authority. they allow someone else to give orders and pass their responsibility onto them
what is the autonomous state
where individuals take responsibility for their own actions and believe only themselves are allowed to direct their behaviour
what are the strengths of agentic state as an explanation for obedience
- blass and scmitt found that people who saw milgrams study blamed the experimenter indicating that they believed the participants were agents of authority
what are the weaknesses of agentic state as an explanation for obedience
- agency theory cannot explain why some people disobey authority figures which was about 1/3 of the participants in the original milgram study
what is legitimacy of authority
an explanation for obedience that suggests we are more likely to obey people who we perceive have more authority over us. the authority is legitimate by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy
what is meant by legitimacy of the system
the idea legitimate sources of authority are places such as the government, the army, school and family
what is legitimacy of authority within the system
the power individuals hold to give orders because of their position in the system
what is meant by orders or demands given
the extent with which an order is perceived to be a legitimate area of authority figure eg. it is acceptable for a teacher to demand you to do you homework but it is not for them to demand you wash their car
what are the weaknesses of legitimacy of authority as an explanation for obedience
- cultural difference - in some cultures authority is more likely to be perceived as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience from others
