Social Influence: Obedience (L5-8)

Question 1

What is obedience?

Answer 1

• behaving as instructed by an authority figure
• authority figures have status and/or power over others

Question 2

What was the year of Milgrams’ experiment?

Answer 2

• 1963

Question 3

What was Milgrams’ method (intro)?

Answer 3

• placed an advert in a newspaper asking for male participants to take part in a study about the effect of punishment on learning
• 40 participants were invited to Psych department of Yale uni and were met by the experimenter, a man in a white lab coat, who was really a confederate
• they were then introduced to a 47yr old man called Mr Wallace who they were told was also a participant
• Mr Wallace was a confederate who pretended to have a weak heart
• MW and P asked to pick a note out of the hat to choose the role of learner or teacher
• participant was always a teacher, so had to punish the learner if a mistake was made on a memory test by causing an electric shock, increasing the voltage each time a mistake was made

Question 4

What was Milgrams’ method (setup)?

Answer 4

• learner was taken to room and hooked up to electric shock machine
• teacher placed in adjoining room with elctric shock machines controls and experimenter
• shock machine and controls were very convincing despite being fake
• each switch labelled with voltage rating from 15V to 140V, increasing by 15V each time
• each group of 4 switches was labelled with text like: “slight shock”, “moderate shock”, “danger: severe shock” and final switches with “XXX”
• as shocks became more severe MW demanded to be released and was screaming then refused to answer anymore and after 300V MW pounded on the wall and finally went silent

Question 5

What did the experimenter do throughout the experiment?

Answer 5

• ensured that the teacher continued the experiment
• when teacher showed reluctance the experimenter prompted him to continue
• used 1 of 4 statements: “please continue”, “the experiment requires that you continue”, “it is absolutely essential that you continue”, and “you have no choice, you must continue”

Question 6

What were the results of Milgrams’ experiment?

Answer 6

• 100% of participants gave shocks up to 300V (when MW pounded on the wall and stopped answering)
• 65% gave shocks all the way up to the max of 450V
• participants felt a high level of stress during and showed symptoms including sweating, trembling and in some cases, hysterical and anxious laughter
• despite stress most were obedient and willing to inflict potentially lethal shocks on a man with a weak heart

Question 7

What was the conclusion of Milgrams’ experiment?

Answer 7

• ordinary people will obey orders to hurt someone
• even if it means acting against their conscience

Question 8

Evaluation of Milgrams’ study -ve

Answer 8

• participants deceived about the true nature of the experiment as they were told it was about memory when it was really about obedience
• also means they did not give informed consent to take part
• they were led to believe the electric shocks were real and MW was a participant with a weak heart (however, done to avoid demand characteristics)
• participants became extremely distressed and may have even thought they had killed MW, so they were not protected from psychological harm (Milgrim did not expect participants to obey so this psych harm could not have been anticipated)
• several p asked to leave but were told they were not allowed, violates their right to withdraw
• sample is unrepresentative as all participants were white American males, gender + culture bias so results cannot be generalised (however study replicated with woman and obedience rates did not change much)

Question 9

Evaulation of Milgrams’ study +ve

Answer 9

• laboratory experiment, good control of variables so possible to establish cause and effect
• despite ethical issues with the study many psychologists felt that after conducting a cost-benefit analysis (weighing the harm a study has against the valuable knowledge it has provided) the study was worthwhile
• now know that most people could potentially do the same thing, leading to people taking more responsibility rather than blindly following orders
• p did not suffer any long term emotional disturbances and 84% said they were happy to have taken part and learnt something important from the experience

Question 10

What did Milgram do in 1974?

Answer 10

• conducted several variations as he was shocked about the level of obedience in his origional study
• stats were surprising as psychologists predicted that only 0.1% would go up to 450V
• he wanted to determine which situational factors increased and decreased obedience

Question 11

Which situational factors did Milgram look at?

Answer 11

• presence of allies
• proximity of the learner (2 variations)
• proximity of the authority
• location of the experiment

Question 12

How did the presence of allies affect obedience (Milgram)?

Answer 12

• when there were 3 teachers (1p and 2c)
• real p less likely to obey if others also refused
• having allies makes it easier to resist orders

Question 13

How did the proximity of the learner affect obedience (Milgram)?

Answer 13

• learner being in the same room as the teacher caused obedience to drop to 40%
• when p had to force the learner’s hand onto the shock plate obedience dropped to 30%
• proximity made the learner’s suffering harder to ignore

Question 14

How did the proximity of the authority affect obedience (Milgram)?

Answer 14

• authority figure left the room and gave instructions via phone
• vast majority of p missed out shocks or gave lower shocks than they were meant to
• obedience rate fell to 21%
• when authority figure wasn’t close by, orders were easier to resist

Question 15

How did the location of the experiment affect obedience (Milgram)?

Answer 15

• carried out in a rundown office by an experimenter wearing casual clothes
• obedience rate was 48%
• p reported the location of Yale uni gave them confidence in the integrity of the experimenter
• lower status of the rundown office changes p perception of the legitimacy of the authority of the experimenter
• association with prestigious uni Yale was removed, making the authority figure seem less legitimate

Question 16

What was Bickman’s (1974) study?

Answer 16

• asked confederates to order passersby to pick some litter off the street or move away from a bus stop
• confederates were dressed as either guards, milkman, or just in smart clothes
• 90% of people obeyed the guard
• 50% of people obeyed the civilian
• shows a person in a guard uniform is more likely to be obeyed and that uniforms have an impact on obedience

Question 17

What was Milgrims agency theory (1974) explaining obedience?

Answer 17

• states that when we feel we’re acting out the wishes of another person, we feel less responsible for our actions
• he argued that people can obey horrific orders because of the situation they are in (situational explanation) and not because of their personalities
• he suggested people following orders go from an autonomous state into an agentic state

Question 18

What is the agentic shift?

Answer 18

• the transition from an autonomous state into an agentic state

Question 19

What happens when in the agentic state?

Answer 19

• people ‘unthinkingly’ carry out orders and perceive themselves as merely the instrument of an authority figure
• they believe that the authority figure is responsible for their actions (diffusion of responsibility)
• so they do not follow their own conscience or feel guilt for their actions
• once they have entered the agentic state, they stay in it because they are concerned that breaking the commitment to the authority figure would seem arrogant and rude

Question 20

Why does the agentic state occur?

Answer 20

• it occurs as those in authority are usually trustworthy
• orders seem reasonable at first before becoming increasing aggressive (gradual commitment)
• also when people are psychologically protected from the consequences of their actions (buffers)

Question 21

An explanation for why people adopt an agentic state?

Answer 21

• to maintain a positive self image
• even if they show negative behaviour, it does not matter as they do not feel responsible for their actions
• once in this state their priority is to maintain their commitment to the authority figure in order to avoid seeming arrogant and rude

Question 22

Why did Milgram (1974) believe obedience is essential?

Answer 22

• thought it developed during human human evolution
• believes it is necessary for hierarchies to function in society, which prevents chaos
• we live in a society where we are constantly submitting to authority figures such as parents as teachers
• for this reason obedience is essential

Question 23

Evaluation of Milgrams Agency theory (1974) +ve:

Answer 23

• participants were less likely to shock MW when in the same room as they could see the consequences of their actions
• there were no buffers
• this supports the idea of an agentic state
• seeing MW in pain would’ve stopped some people from going into an agentic state

Question 24

Evaluation of Milgrams Agency theory -ve:

Answer 24

• suggests without buffers people should not go into an agentic state and obey an order which would cause harm to someone
• however, Mandel (1988) reported the case of Major Wilhelm Trapp
• in 1942, in a polish village Major Trapp was given orders to take a large group of Jewish people to the edge of the village and have the shot
• members were given the chance to say no and be assigned different duties but few did, the massacre then went ahead
• despite close proximity of the victims the shooting still occurred

Question 25

What is legitimate authority?

Answer 25

• situational explanation of obedience
• comes from having a defined social role which people respect usually because it implies knowledge or comes with legal power
• claims that we recognise our own and other peoples position in the social hierarchy
• we obey those who have a higher position that us
• we do not obey those who have an equal or lower position in the social hierarchy than us

Question 26

What is legitimate authority increased by?

Answer 26

• visible symbols of authority such as uniform
• can reference Bickmans study

Question 27

What is legitimate authority dependent on?

Answer 27

• setting, order, system and location
• especially if the commands are potentially harmful or destructive

Question 28

Evaluation of legitimate authority +ve:

Answer 28

• Hofling (1966) found that nurses would obey a dangerous order from a doctor as they were in a hospital location
• they recieved a call from an unknown Dr who was an actor called Dr Smith
• he asked the nurse to administer 20mg of a drug called Astroten to a patient (was just a sugar pill)
• broke hospital rules as it was twice the maximum dose (as indicated on the bottle)
• instructions were over the phone, Dr was unknown, medicine was not on stock list
• despite the dangers 95% of nurses carried out the instructions as doctors have legitimate authority
• Bickman (1974), 90% obeyed guard, 50% obeyed civilian, person in guard uniform more likely to be perceived as a legitimate authority figure

Question 29

Evaluation of legitimate authority -ve:

Answer 29

• doesn’t explain why some people are able to resist orders of legitimate authority figures
• 35% of participants in Milgrams (1963) study refused to obey the experimenter
• even though he had legitimate authority in that situation

Question 30

What are the situational explanations for obedience?

Answer 30

• agentic state
• legitimate authority
• (situational influences in the environment determining behaviour)

Question 31

What is a dispositional explanations for obedience?

Answer 31

• authoritarian personality
• (individuals personality characteristics determining their behaviour)

Question 32

What idea did Adorno (1950) propose?

Answer 32

• proposed a dispositional explanation of obedience
• argued that authoritarian personalities are more likely to obey authority figures
• authoritarian personalities have a collection of traits which make them more obedient

Question 33

Traits of an authoritarian personality:

Answer 33

• servile towards people of perceived higher status
• hostile towards people of lower status
• preoccupied with power
• rigid moral standards
• inflexible in their beliefs and values
• conformist and conventional
• dogmatic (intolerant of ambiguity)
• likely to categorise people as ‘us’ or ‘them’

Question 34

How did Adorno believe authoritarian personalities were developed?

Answer 34

• a result of over strict parenting causing children to be socialised to obey authority unquestionably after learning strict obedience to parents
• due to recieving extremely strict parenting, usually involving physical punishment
• child feels constrained which creates aggressions and feelings of hostility
• child would be afraid they’ll be disciplined if they express this aggression to parents
• they repress their anger and act in a submissive way towards their parents
• they then extend this submissive behaviour to all authority figures
• hostile and aggressive feelings are then instead expressed to people they see as weak or inferior to them

Question 35

What scale did Adorno (1950) develop?

Answer 35

• the F (fascism) scale
• questionnaire which measures how strongly people express authoritarian traits
• participants are asked to rate how much they agree with statement such as ‘obedience and respect for authority are important virtues children should learn’ and ‘rules are there to follow, not to be changed’

Question 36

Evaluation of authoritarian personality +ve:

Answer 36

• Miller (1975) found that people who scored high on the F scale were more likely to obey an order to hold onto some electric wiring wire working on an arithmetic problem compared to those with a low score
• Altemeyer (1981) ordered participants to give themselves increasing levels of electric shocks when they made a mistake on a learning task, there was a significant correlation between those willing to shock themselves and high scores on the F scale

Question 37

Evaluation of authoritarian personality -ve:

Answer 37

• situational variable may be more important as Milgrams (1974) variations had vastly different results
• obedience rate was 100% when MW made no noise
• obedience rate was 0% when there were 2 authority figures and they disagreed with each other (one telling teacher to stop, other saying continue)
  = dispositional explanations cannot explain obedience in entire societies
  = ap are not common, fewer than 65% of people have ap so it can’t be the only explanation for the level of obedience found in the original Milgram (1963) study
• rather than ap causing obedience, lack of education causes ap and obedience
• Middendorp and Meleon (1990) found that less educated people are more likely to have ap
• Milgram (1974) found that participants with lower levels of education were more obedient