Social Influence : Obedience Flashcards

1
Q

Obedience

A
  • When an individual follows direct orders from a person in authority
  • They have power do punish when obedience doesn’t occur
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2
Q

Destructive Obedience

A
  • When an individual obeys an order to do something immoral
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3
Q

Miligram : Aim

A
  • miligram wanted to know if germans were more obedient to authority
  • find out if ordinary American citizens would obey unjust orders and inflict pain because they were instructed
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4
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : how many participants ?

A

40 male volunteers who responded to an advert in a local paper on ‘punishment and learning’

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5
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : what were they told about the experiment in the newspaper ?

A

‘punishment and learning’ task

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6
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : where was it conducted ?

A

Yale University

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7
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : who was involved ?

A

teacher (participant) , learner , experimenter

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8
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : what did the teacher watch the learner do ?

A

They watched the learner being strapped to a chair and a real sample shock was given

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9
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : procedure when experimenter and teacher were in the same room ?

A

Learner recalled word pairs and if wrong answer was given shccks started from 15V to 450V

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10
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : are the shocks real ?

A

the shocks weren’t real and the answers were prerecorded

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11
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : what happened at 300V,315V and 330V

A
300V = learner complained about a weak heart 
315V = banged on the wall and demanded to leave 
330V = learner became silent
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12
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : what happened if the teacher tried to stop the experiment ?

A

the experimenter gave prods

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13
Q

Miligram ( procedure ) : example of prods

A

‘the experimenter requires that you continue’

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14
Q

Milgram ( findings) : how many participants continued to 450 volts ?

A

65%

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15
Q

Milgram ( findings) : how did participants react ?

A
  • extreme tension

- sweat , stutter

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16
Q

Milgram ( findings) : what did 3 participants have ?

A

Full blown uncontrollable seizures

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17
Q

Milgram ( findings) : what did the students estimate the results would be ?

A

No more than 3% would go to 450V

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18
Q

Conclusions : what would ordinary people do in the right circumstances ?

A

Obey unjust orders

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19
Q

Conclusions : are Germans different from others ?

A
  • Germans aren’t different from other people in different countries .
  • if hitler was in a different country it would’ve still happened
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20
Q

Miligram evaluation : - ethical

A
  • deception as they were told it’s a punishment and learning task
  • difficult for participants to withdraw because of the prods
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21
Q

Miligram evaluation : + le jeu de la mort

A
  • Le jeu de la mort documentary found similar results and 80% when to maximum .
  • this means conditions in milgrams were controlled so it’s repeatable
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22
Q

Miligram evaluation : - lack ecological validity

A
  • tested in a lab setting which is different to real life so conditions are too extreme
  • however Sheridan and king conducted real shocks on puppies dn 54% males/100% woman obeyed.(act same way knowing shows were real)
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23
Q

Miligram evaluation : - lacks population validity

A
  • he used 40 male participants so results can’t be generalised
  • other populations can be different e.g woman
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24
Q

Situational

A

Features of the environment that impact the degree to which individuals obey

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25
Q

Proximity

A
  • Physical closeness or distance of an authority figure

- physical closeness to person carrying out order and ‘victim’

26
Q

Location

A

Place an order is issued

27
Q

Uniform

A

Clothes an authority figures wears

28
Q

Milgram variations : proximity

A

Original = adjoining rooms

  • teacher and learner in same room = 40 %
  • teacher forced leaners hand = 30 %
  • orders over the phone = 20.5 %
  • closer authority = higher obedience
  • closer victim = lower obedience
29
Q

Milgram variations : location

A

Original = Yale

  • run down office building = 47.5 %
  • less prestige = lower obedience
30
Q

Milgram variations : uniform

A
  • original = grey lab coat
  • ordinary member = 20 %
  • less professional = lower obedience
31
Q

Situational Variables Evaluation : uniform +

A
  • bickmans security guard experiment (people picked up litter)
  • twice as more likely to listen to security hard than confederate in jacket and tie
  • supports milgram that uniform conveys authority
32
Q

Situational Variables Evaluation : internal validity -

A
  • individuals figured out procedure was fake due to extra manipulation - lacks internal validity because of demand characteristics
  • when using a member of the public people acted naturally
  • please you or crew you effect
33
Q

Situational Variables Evaluation : extraneous variables +

A
  • milgrams investigated each one separately so we can be sure they all impacted obedience
  • valid
34
Q

Situational Variables Evaluation : insensitive -

A
  • excuse or alibi for behaviour as they may blame authority figure
  • offensive to survivors of the holocaust suggesting Nazis were victims themselves
35
Q

Social Psychological explanations : legitimacy of authority

A
  • people are more likely to obey those who have power over them
  • individuals are taught to recognise the value of obedience to maintain stability
  • authority have power to punish which can also become destructive
36
Q

Example of destructive obedience

A

Prods in milgrams study

37
Q

Evaluation of legitimacy of authority : Blass and Schmitt +

A

Milgrams students blamed the ‘experimenter’ because a scientist is seen as an authority figure

38
Q

Evaluation of legitimacy of authority : cultural differences +

A
  • Helps explain cultural differences because obedience varies
  • Australia = 16%
  • germans = 85%
  • in some cultures authority is. Seen. There’s
  • increases validate
39
Q

Evaluation of legitimacy of authority : milgrams +

A
  • ordinary people = 20%
40
Q

Social psychological explanations : agentic state

A

Metal state where the individual fells no personal responsibility as they think they’re acting

41
Q

What is the autonomous state ?

A

Individual feels responsible for own actions so they act according to their own principles

42
Q

What are individuals when they’re acting as an agent ?

A

Unfeeling puppet

43
Q

What do agents experience when they’re in the agents state ?

A
  • they’re not unfeeling puppets

- they experience moral strain because they know its wrong and they cant do anything

44
Q

How can you reduce moral strain ?

A

Binding factors

45
Q

Agentic state in milgrams experiment

A
  • The participants were told that the experimenter had responsibility
  • continued shocks because they felt less responsible
46
Q

Agentic state evaluation : explaining research findings -

A
  • Can’t explain many research findings

- doesn’t explain why some people didn’t obey so agentic state is only for certain situations of obedience

47
Q

Agentic state evaluation : blass and Schmitt +

A
  • students blamed experimenter which shows they shifted to agentic state so they continued the shocks
48
Q

Agentic state evaluation : Nazis -

A
  • behaviour of nazis cannot be explained by authority and agentic state - - germans shot some civilians when direct orders weren’t given and other jobs were offered
  • their choice
49
Q

Agentic state evaluation : milgrams variation

A
  • another confederate pressed the shocks and obedience rose to 92.5% because responsibility was shifted
50
Q

Agentic state evaluation : judiciary system -

A

Agentic state suggests actions aren’t controlled by individuals but the judiciary system suggests we have control so should be held responsible

51
Q

Disposition also explanation : authoritarian personality

A

Certain personalities are associated with higher levels of obedience

52
Q

Authoritarian personality:Adornos investigation

A
  • 2000 middle class white Americans
  • attitudes toward racial groups
  • Fscale used
53
Q

Adornos findings : people who scored high on the f scale

A

Stronger people and they have a hatred for the weak

54
Q

Are authoritarian personalities flexible ?

A

No

55
Q

Characteristics of authoritarian personality

A
  • obedient to authority
  • hatred for inferior
  • traditional attitudes
  • inflexible
56
Q

Authoritarian personality : origins

A
  • harsh parenting
  • strict discipline
  • conditional love
  • severe criticism
57
Q

Authoritarian personality: What do these experiences create ?

A
  • resentment and hostility in a child

- fears and angers in weaker

58
Q

Authoritarian personality : research support (E) +/-

A
  • those highly obedient on milgrams study scored high on the f scale = more authoritarian
  • link between authoritarian personality and obedience = increases validity
  • link is merely a correlation so cannot conclude that authoritarian personality causes obedience (may only be a third factor)
59
Q

Authoritarian personality : methodological problems (E)-

A
  • flawed methodology
  • every one of the f-scales items is warded in the same direction so people may score high by ticking the same boxes
  • acquiescence bias
60
Q

Authoritarian personality : limited explanation

A
  • cannot be used to describe behaviour of a majority (country’
  • pre war Germany most individuals displayed racism and o s didn’t behaviour despite individual differences so cannot assume they all posses authoritarian personality (many scapegoated. Jews)
  • may ban alternative more realistic explanation like social identity.